Purge Marketing Database: Pointy-Haired Boss Made Me Do It

Instructions for reading this blog:

1. Put your index finger on the lower left portion of jaw and rest your head
2. look towards the ceiling after you're done reading
3. think

My Reply to VMware

From: lorrinda [mailto:lsm@lorrinda.com] Sent: Monday, June 29, 2009 1:45 PM To: 'The VMware Team' - vmwareteam@connect.vmware.com Cc: 'mmarks@vmware.com'; 'rjackson@vmware.com'; 'pmaritz@vmware.com' Subject: RE: Last Chance – Removal from VMware Marketing Database Dear VMware:

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This is silly. Why would you purge an opted-in potential customer from your marketing database. What was the cost to get me as a subscriber? That money wasn’t well spent? Clearly you know I have not updated my profile and/or subscription preferences in the past 6 months. Why not continue to market to me with ‘baby-come-back’ campaigns or something. Maybe you just want me to think you will purge my name, but you really are not planning to do it… thereby creating a [false] sense of urgency so I will go ahead and do the update.

What would of worked for me here is something like this… We miss you… please visit _______ and update your profile so we can keep in touch. The presentation (colors, design, etc) of this message was excellent. The message was foo foo.Glad your first quarter profits are up! Sincerely, Lorrinda S. Michieka, MBA Move My Mountain, LLC http://www.movemymountain.com lsm@lorrinda.com

Original Message

<------- original message ---------> From: The VMware Team [mailto:vmwareteam@connect.vmware.com]

Sent: Monday, June 29, 2009 10:03 AM To: lsm@lorrinda.com Subject: Last Chance – Removal from VMware Marketing Database General Service Announcement:

Thank you for your past interest in VMware. As part of our routine scheduled maintenance, we will be removing email addresses and associated subscription information from our marketing database for contacts who have not updated their profile and/or subscription preferences within the last 6 months. If you would like to remain on our mailing list and wish to receive updates on news, specific solutions, offers and much more, then please update your current profile. If you do not take any action by June 30th, we will permanently archive your record. We encourage you to visit the profile center and update your profile today. Best regards, The VMware Team PS – Visit the "Profile Center" today to avoid being removed from the VMware database!

Secrets to Getting Your E-commerce Customers to Come Back

My mom was helping me file stuff found in a stack of stuff at my home office. I ran across a coupon from Springfield Wire that came in my box of Danny DuzIt stainless steel sponges. This coupon continually made the cut when I was 'cleaning' my desk on previous occasions because I knew that Danny was the only pot scrubber that I ever wanted to use and I regularly give them as gifts. These things are amazing. I was first introduced to them in 1996 when somebody was selling them as a fundraiser. I've been hooked every since. They do not rust or tear like the store brands and can last up to a year it seems. No, I don't cook a lot, but when I do, there is sure to be a mess that Danny can fix. I have learned not to leave the kitchen the entire time something (anything) is cooking so I could stop burning stuff to the point that I could not eat it. That little coupon (and re-order slip) inside the box told me that Springfield valued me as a customer and my repeat business would be appreciated. There was a handy re-order form included too. Therefore, I am still giving 'their' product as gifts and blogging about it! Be sure to include a little something extra when you ship to your customers. When you ship an order to a customer, what do you include in the box? If your answer is: “The product and a packing slip,” you’re missing out on a big opportunity to keep customers coming back, says consultant John Park on … Secrets to Getting Your E-commerce Customers to Come Back

HBCUs should PLAN --> DO --> CHECK --> ACT

When it suits me, I consider myself a HBCU insider since I worked at one for several years and I took some classes while there. Shaw University in Raleigh, NC is in financial trouble. Many other schools are in trouble too, not just HBCUs, but this hits close to home for me.

From where I sat the amount of planning that was allowed to happen could have increased dramatically. I worked in the Business and Finance office for a while before ultimately becoming the Director of Administrative Computing and it seemed we stayed in emergency mode more than anything else. Stephen Covey’s “First Things First” analogy with the jar, the marbles and the golf balls was hauntingly true for us it seemed. Since administering a college is as cyclical as the college academic year itself, when things did show down we ‘shut down’ from sheer exhaustion. It is humanly impossible to be effective AND work at that pace long-term.

We are all familiar with the Academic Calendar. My unique contribution was the Administrative Calendar. I knew (and published) what had to be done in January to have the student information & financials system (Datatel) ready for incoming freshman. My sole daily work was that preparation. If I hit a showstopper in that prep, it was easy to shift gears and help others with their goals since I knew that system inside out and by default was cross-trained on every position in order to successfully migrate the system to a new major release. Cross-training employees is critical.

This morning, the Interim President of Shaw University, Dr. Dorothy Cowser Yancy said that she has an Abraham Lincoln-like management style; managing by moving about (MBMA). I really hope her enthusiasm is contagious, but more than that, I hope that her MBMA turns up documented cases and scenarios that bring about real change instead of an elaborate silent alarm system when she’s on the prowl. Dr. Yancy is making a great personal sacrifice to delay her retirement to fill this role for Shaw U so I believe her when she says, “Shaw has been around too long to fail. I believe in higher education, but I am totally committed to black higher education. I believe in HBCUs. I believe they should exist. And I believe that if they were not here, they would have to create us this morning.”

Raising $145 million during two capital campaigns while president of Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, NC is truly admirable, but did she teach them to fish? I hope so. Is the $39 million increase in their endowment still growing?... or have they ‘shut down’ from sheer exhaustion ? How did she do it? I, like a lot of other people, am hoping she does it again at Shaw. This is what I recommend happens at Shaw:

1. Take a hard look at every department, process and practice and decide how it feeds into the bottom line.
1. The ‘look’ should be extremely detailed and written.
2. Decide ‘What we do and why.’
3. Put everything in one of two buckets; (1) must-have and, (2) Nice-to-have.
4. Immediately halt spending for each “nice-to-have”
5. Analyze each must have and document processes and prioritize them.
1. Re-write and/or create job descriptions based on must haves.
2. Match employee skills to must-have positions.
3. Empower employees to own and do their jobs with built-in accountability.
2. Create measurable, repeatable processes and workflows that directly relate to university goals.
1. Each department/office should have weekly, monthly and annual goals that are transparent, monitored and measured.
3. Improve internal communications and reporting using technology & standards.
1. Leaders should be able to monitor, communicate and tweak departmental goals and progress.
2. Tweaking should be managed, documented and justified.
3. There should be a systematic way for customers (students) and employees to complain and/or give praise.
4. Faculty & Staff should know exactly how their role(s) contribute to revenue streams. They should absolutely be able to see and focus on the big picture through the daily grind.
1. Tie bonuses to performance.
2. Create incentives to motivate employees.
5. Take inventory of supplies, procurement practices and equipment.
1. Cut waste… who is using all the paper, ink, toner, pencils?
2. Are we paying too much for goods and services?
6. Account for and justify each incoming/outgoing dollar.

THEN… check all you’ve done, tweak, repeat.

Welcome Madame President. Good luck Shaw! I believe in you too.

Sincerely,

LORRINDA STEWART MICHIEKA, MBA Business Analyst Process Rengineerist (made that one up… [smile]) Total Quality Manager Lifelong Student Creative Effectiveness Guru http://www.movemymountain.com/ http://www.lorrinda.com/

Links: http://www.shawuniversity.edu/press_releases/Dr_Yancyl.htm http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/5260644/ http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1552170.html