Tag:

business

Arts Mean Business: Photographer Sunny Bak (Video)

by Dan Perez November 20, 2014

Business for the Arts of Broward is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) engaging businesses and business leaders to advocate and educate about the importance of the County’s art and cultural community as well as to recognize the connection between cultural vitality, creative success, and economic development.

For their recent “Arts Mean Business” breakfast series which is held at the Museum of Art | Fort Lauderdale and highlights the work of nationally recognized artists to the South Florida business community, the organization presented acclaimed photographer Sunny Bak.

Bak, a self-taught photographer who started her career shooting celebrities on the streets of New York, shot the gatefold image of the Beastie Boys on the “Licensed to Ill” album, and the infamous “Lesbians” cover for Newsweek in June 1993, which still ranks among their top ten selling issues.

In this candid interview, Sunny Bak discusses how she started her career, her first camera, her long-term relationship with the Beastie Boys, the details behind her “Lesbians” cover shoot for Newsweek and her connection to the popular Venice Art Crawl. This was my first video project for Business for the Arts Broward – we hope to make it a continuing series…stay tuned.

[vimeo]https://vimeo.com/109419837[/vimeo]

Like us on facebook and you’ll make us really happy; we’re not sure why, though, but studies have shown that people who like our facebook page are 37% cooler than people who don’t…

November 20, 2014

Corporate Sound and Vision

WEBINAR: A Conversation with Bob Swindell of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance

by Dan Perez January 5, 2014

written by Dan Perez

Here’s the latest in a continuing series of webinars (produced by yours truly) for Fort Lauderdale based law firm Tripp Scott. In this episode, Ed Pozzuoli, President of Tripp Scott, sits down with Bob Swindell, President/CEO of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance (formerly The Broward Alliance) to discuss the current state of business and economic development in Broward County and South Florida.

For Tripp Scott, a webinar is one of the most effective ways of maintaining close communication with their clients and subscribers. By featuring business and community leaders in their webinars, Tripp Scott deliver compelling content targeted for their audience and establish themselves as a leader in their industry.

How is your company communicating with their “audience”?

[vimeo]https://vimeo.com/82783329[/vimeo]

You can view additional webinars in our Tripp Scott Presents channel on vimeo.com.

Did you know that video promotion is over 6 times more effective than print and online? If you’re not using video to promote your product, service or event, maybe it’s time you did. Feel free to contact us to discuss how we can help tell your company or organization’s unique story…

Like us on facebook and you’ll make us really happy; we’re not sure why, though, but studies have shown that people who like our facebook page are 37% cooler than people who don’t…

January 5, 2014

Blog It Is Written The Written Word

Working for Free: Why Exposure Just Isn’t Enough

by Dan Perez November 10, 2013

written by Dan Perez

I came across an article in the New York Times recently titled Slaves of the Internet, Unite!, a scathing observation on the practice of asking creative people to offer their services for free in exchange for “exposure”. I mean, if you’re a writer, painter, illustrator, musician, singer, photographer, video producer, or purveyor of any other creative artform, you’ve probably been asked to hand over that thing you love to do and are trying desperately to make a living at – for free.
Well, not exactly for free – for “exposure”.

Exposure. You hear that word enough you begin to hate it. The practice of investing time and effort doing something you’re good at just to hand it over to someone who will most likely benefit from its use right away while you wait and hope that whatever “exposure” you receive will create an opportunity for you to actually earn some dough.

But one exposure opportunity usually leads to more exposure opportunities and before you know it you’re giving that gift of yours away like it’s merely a handful of extra change.

It ain’t easy making a living as a creative person, especially in this “content crazed” online society. Everybody wants content to share with their website’s “audience”, content that their “audience” will enjoy, content that will help boost their site’s popularity, attract a new “audience” hungry for fresh content – and they want you to provide it for them at no charge. Oh, my bad, I meant in exchange for exposure. Everybody else is giving it away – why should you get paid?

You do all the work, they get the immediate reward. It’s kind of like the relationship between a pimp and a prostitute, no? Except you don’t have to worry about getting gonorrhea – even if you do get burned most of the time.

“So what you’re saying, Dan, is that we should never give up our unique talents in exchange for exposure, right?”
Wrong.
“OK, so WTF are you saying?”

What I’m saying is that exchanging your work for exposure can indeed produce positive results; even lead to acquiring new business opportunities. It helped launch my business and I still produce a few videos a year in exchange for exposure. What I’ve learned, however, is that when we give up our good stuff for nothing more than exposure, sometimes we leave money on the table; we give too much and settle for too little.

And sometimes we even start believing that our good stuff ain’t worth that much; that as long as one exposure opportunity leads to another exposure opportunity (then another and yet another) that we’re making progress. Ultimately, we find ourselves merely working for free – and comfortable doing it. Comfortably numb.

It all begins with an honest look at your abilities; your expertise. Is what you do even worth paying for? There was a time when I started my business that I was happy to just get exposure. I wasn’t sure if my work was really worth paying for (yet) and if it was, how much? Then I stumbled upon an opportunity to produce a big video for Miami Children’s Hospital Foundation‘s annual “Diamond Ball”, a $1000 per head fundraising event. A friend of mine who was an event planner and liked my work brought me in on the project, even got me paid very nicely (for that time). The scope of the video, however, was more ambitious than anything I had ever produced. I was a bit nervous about it but I sure as shit wasn’t gonna turn down that money.

So I shot it and edited it and then took it down to show the folks at the Foundation. They watched it in a conference room as I sat outside waiting. I thought the video came out pretty good but I was still very nervous. When it was over, they called me in to discuss it. I had a pad and pen in hand ready to jot down all their feedback and any changes they wanted. My palms were sweaty. When I entered the room, they were all smiling; they loved the video and didn’t want a thing changed. For me, however, everything changed on that day.

I started to realize that maybe I was better than I thought I was; that I could actually provide real value to a client with my video productions; that what I did was worth paying for – that was a game changer.

The following year, when my very first documentary film (which I shot and edited by myself) won an award at a film festival, I was a true believer in Dan Perez. I believed I was not only worth paying for, but paying well for…

And that’s where the change begins; where a hobby becomes a career; where exposure alone just isn’t good enough anymore.

{But Dan, you said you still produce a few videos a year for exposure – what gives?}

You gotta still market your business, yes? Find new eyes for your work, yes? I’ve found a few worthwhile exposure opportunities that help me “dig my well” so I won’t go thirsty. They usually involve producing videos for organizations that will play at fundraising events and award galas – events with an affluent audience that might have the need for my services. These “exposure” opportunities have proved beneficial to my business over the years but now I don’t just stop at exposure – I ask to be listed as an event sponsor with my company name, logo, and/or ad listed in the event program and invitations. I ask for more now because I believe I’m worth it.

Are you maximizing your exposure opportunities? Ask for more exposure than you’re being offered and you just might get it.

Creative people are usually very passionate about whatever art they produce. They’ve realized the ability to create something, whether it be with the written word, a song, a photograph or a painting, that can touch the soul of others. Their creations can make you laugh, make you angry, make you cry, calm a savage breast. They have a gift that the rest of the people who just work to make a living don’t have.

There’s value in that, no?

I know it ain’t easy making a living being creative – for many folks it’s damn near impossible. Being good isn’t enough. Passion isn’t enough. The difference between a guy selling his paintings for $250 one year then selling his paintings for $10,000 a few years later is merely a set of circumstances. Exposure helps create circumstances but once you get into the habit of giving it away, you’re gonna find less and less people willing to pay for what you’ve got to offer.

Exposure is never enough.

Eventually, we need to take a good look at what we do, gauge how good we really are at what we do, determine who would want to pay us for what we do (and how much we’re worth) and then target those individuals. Social media has made it much easier to get our work seen by others; facebook, twitter, linkedin (plenty of good groups to join there), and google+ (check out the many communities) are good places to start – if you’re not already there, get there and get active. Then consider first how your work can benefit *you* before passing it along for others to benefit from.

As creative people trying to make a living doing that thing that we do, we’ve got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em, know when to walk away and know when to run. For many creatives, exposure and keeping their fingers crossed is as good as they’re gonna get because that’s all their talent can command. But for those of us whose creativity is worthy of more, when we keep giving it away, what we do begins to lose value – in the eyes of others and, more importantly, in our own eyes as well.

And we’re better than that…

right?

[Photographs by Donnie Nunley]

November 10, 2013

Blog The Written Word

Fear and Loathing in the Social Media Space: An Observation

by Dan Perez May 19, 2013

written by Dan Perez

How many times have you read a blog post from some social media marketing consultant about how the industry has become overrun with false prophets and phonies? How the current fast track to social media success is more about creating perception than producing results? How the path of the righteous social media man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men?

A few times, yes?

Now, how many times has said post actually named a particular person? Identified by name the object of their scorn and/or frustration?

Not too often.

This past week, I came across yet another such post titled “Is it time to embrace the social media faker?” by Matt Ridings, a popular internet marketing consultant. In the post, he calls out the authenticity of “this guy” (and “others like him”) in the social media business scene whose garnered quite the online reputation but, in the opinion of Mr. Ridings, “tweets nothing unique”, “writes nothing original” and seems “more concerned about image than reality”. Fighting words for sure.

Unfortunately, at least for me, this nefarious person’s name is never mentioned in the post. Why?

Now, I don’t know Mr. Ridings personally but I’ll hazard a guess that he didn’t want to shit where he sleeps; divide the so-called “leadership” of the social media world and have people choose sides. Perhaps, he’s concerned that he’ll be excommunicated from the social media fraternity; cast out like the leper. Maybe he just feels it ain’t nice to call people out publicly.

Then why write the post?

Sure it’ll get you plenty of, “I totally agree with you!” comments but is it really effective in creating change? If there’s this level of frustration in the social media space with who’s a real expert, a perceived expert, or a poseur (and it has existed for quite some time now), how the heck is anything supposed to change if these frustrated people don’t start not only identifying those who frustrate them but, more importantly, explaining why?

Without the name, it’s merely sound and fury signifying nothing. Barking without the bite. Blog fodder.

It’s really not a matter of whether Mr. Ridings is right or wrong in his observations about “this guy” but at least it presents an opposing viewpoint; another perspective for folks to consider. I mean, a large percentage of people on the social media space are just sheep and/or stupid; you just have to show up with 100,000+ twitter followers and many of them will follow you like the rats enchanted by the sweet melody of the Pied Piper.

Most of them won’t bother checking your past history, real work experience or credentials anyway. Heck, if you’ve got that many twitter followers, you’ve gotta be pretty dang smart!

One-eyed Jacks is what they are – why not show the sheep the other side of the card?

We have no problem publicly expressing our views and engaging in healthy (and heated) debates on politics, religion, gun control, immigration, etc – but when it comes to social media, it appears it’s better to stay shut and keep your social media club membership than to speak out against the practices of an industry whose credibility has fallen just short of used car sales. And guess what? It’s the fault of its own “leadership” that it has become so.

Again, it ain’t about who’s right and who’s wrong – it’s about giving people something else to consider.

Maybe one of the sheep will say, “Gee, I never thought of that” or “Wow, why didn’t that guy ever disclose that?” or “Boy, I’m glad Mr. Ridings pointed that out about how that guy handles his business – I’m gonna go find someone else to follow and this time, I’m gonna do my homework!”

“Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” John 9:25

Ridings, when asked in the comments section of his post why he didn’t name a name, defended the point of his post as merely “that internal struggle with my dislike for something I find distasteful with the objective point of view that perhaps it can sometimes drive positive change.”

You wanna really drive positive change? Start naming names. It may make for an awkward situation if you and the person you call out are both attending the same social media conference but if you’re gonna take issue with how a person handles their business then give them a smile and a bro-hug at SXSW or Blogworld, then you’re a just a hypocrite anyway, right? Why not just draw a line in the sand and choose your side?

{But Dan, many of these social media “A-listers” are used to having their egos stroked by their following – they’re a bunch of thin-skinned cry-babies who take the slightest disagreement with their ideology as a personal attack and sic their zombies on you, call you a “hater”, say that you’re just “jealous”, “trying to make a name for yourself”, mock you to their followers (Guy Kawasaki, anyone?) or even ban you from ever commenting on their blog again!}

So what?

If these people are gonna proclaim themselves as experts by merely regurgitating the words of Dale Carnegie, Jim Rohn, and Stephen Covey; label themselves as “thought leaders” by introducing fantastic ideologies that are totally disconnected from reality, and write “How To” business books despite never having held an executive position in any company AND PUT IT OUT THERE FOR THE WHOLE DANG WORLD TO SEE – shouldn’t we be able to challenge its validity? Yes. Yes we should.

If not, then keep silent and simply repeat to yourself over and over again the words of Hyman Roth to Michael Corleone in “The Godfather II”, “This is the business we’ve chosen” – and then go write a post about Klout or something.

People love those, too.

Now, where’s my “Serpico” dvd?

[Photographs by George Christakis]

May 19, 2013

Blog The Written Word

Leadership, God, and Darwinism: An Observation

by Dan Perez February 19, 2012

written by Dan Perez

Are you familiar with #Leadershipchat? It’s a twitter chat that takes place every Tuesday night at 8pm ET. It’s moderated by two swell people in Lisa Petrilli and Steve Woodruff and it attracts some really nice folks who say some of the darndest things. It also makes me nucking futs sometimes.

This isn’t the first time I’ve written about #Leadershipchat but this time I simply want to express my prevailing views without the limitations of 140 characters, once and for all, and then return to the dark musty cave I crawled out of. Promise.

So why does #Leadershipchat (and other similar twitter chats) drive me batshit crazy? For one, there’s a tendency to discuss perfect leadership scenarios. The ones where the leader makes everyone on the team feel empowered; where the leader’s door is always open, he (or she) always has time to listen. A world where the leader makes everyone on the team feel they matter, and the team then goes on to make everyone else around them feel like they matter, too. It’s about believing in people, trusting them, nurturing them, winning over their hearts. It sounds so damn good, doesn’t it? Too good.

Let me make one thing clear. Leadership responsibilities are given to a person over a team to attain an outcome; a result. In sports, it’s winning games and/or a championship. In a nonprofit organization, it’s raising more money. In a church, it’s saving more souls. And in business, it’s all about the Benjamins; the cold reality of shareholder returns. Oftentimes, the consequences of failing to achieve said outcomes is being replaced or even fired. With great power comes great responsibility, yes?

So now the leader (a good one) has to outline a plan for success (and, quite possibly, his own livelihood), review his team members, consider their strengths and weaknesses, and assign responsibilities accordingly. And that’s where the fun usually begins.

The Awful Truth

Now, at the expense of sounding like an unreservedly jaded bastard (which I’m really not), allow me to offer up a sobering reality: People will, more often than not, let you down. On #Leadershipchat, we’re always looking at the leader’s responsibilities and we tend to forget those of the team. Yeah, the team. You know, the ones that have to execute the plan that the leader so carefully and lovingly laid out to them. It’s the team that usually determines a leader’s success or failure…

and people will, more often than not, let you down.

Why? Because human beings live in a complex world with an infinite number of habits and beliefs. We’re inherently competitive and destructive; we have a propensity for pride, selfishness, gossip, greed and deceit. We’re quick to judge one another; we try to remove the speck from our brother’s eye while a beam is lodged in our own eye. We split off into “packs” for self-preservation and wage “war” on other packs. Ultimately, we abide by the Darwinian principle of “survival of the fittest”.

Do you see now what a leader (also a flawed human being) has to deal with?

The good news is it isn’t our fault. That’s just how God made us. As soon as He let Adam and Eve run around in the Garden of Eden by themselves, our true nature was revealed. The serpent helped Eve realize that nobody should be the boss of her (“You gonna let God tell you what to do?”). Eve, realizing she might have screwed up, drags poor Adam into her mess (“Here, eat this apple. It’s all good.”). Adam then lies to God (“Apple? What apple?”), then throws Eve under the bus (“But she gave it to me!”) and then tries to divert the blame back to God (“If you had never created her in the first place, this would never have happened!”). Sounds like just another day at the office, doesn’t it?

The “Good” People

So are there good people in this world? People who believe that caring, support and trust can still flourish? People who can suppress their innate human tendencies and actually be sensitive to the well-being of others? Sure there are. If there weren’t, we certainly would have destroyed ourselves a long time ago. We’ve come close but not yet.

In any “team” environment, there are several people who really love what they do; who tackle their responsibilities with enthusiasm. Their intentions are ultimately self-serving but carefully disguised. You see, these people want to succeed because they want to move up to a higher position, to a thicker paycheck. They want to buy a nice house in the suburbs, buy a nice car, put their kids in the best schools, then take out another mortgage on the house to send them to the best colleges, then sell the house and hopefully have enough left to retire to a small ocean front condo on Miami Beach. Survival of the fittest at its most admirable.

Alas, many times these noble souls have to endure the envy and resentment of the others; the “normal” people. The people who hate to see another team member be praised over them (Dang! Susie’s making us look bad!”); the people who resent the fact that their one-time co-worker has now been put in charge of them (“Bob’s gonna now tell us what to do? Not me he ain’t!”). Should I tell you the story of Cain and Abel? The story of Joseph and his eleven brothers, perhaps? Let’s just blame God again, shall we?

This is why being a leader is so hard. People.

This is why there are so many dang twitter chats wishing impossible things about leadership, business, customer service, and life in general. Because it’s the nature of people to make a mess of things.

And this is why the leader gets the cash, the new car, and the girl when he can get a group of ultimately self-serving people to just do what they’re supposed to do for an extended period of time to achieve a goal. Despite their jealousy, hypocrisy, pride, selfishness, egos, and religious beliefs. It’s a reason to celebrate! Pop the champagne bottles! All of us actually worked together and did something! Hallelujah!

Whether it’s done via intimidation, patience, love, hook or crook; whether at the end of the day people hate their leader, love their leader or fear their leader; the successful leaders know it’s all about the results.

And people.

[Digital artwork by Stefano Bonazzi]

February 19, 2012

Corporate

Small Business Saturday: Coral Gables

by Dan Perez December 11, 2011

written by Dan Perez

For the second year in a row, American Express OPEN has declared the Saturday after Thanksgiving to be Small Business Saturday. The event, which was presented and produced by the Coral Gables Chamber of Commerce and American Express, kicked off at Books & Books at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 26, 2011.

I was contacted by Mark Trowbridge, President/CEO of the Coral Gables Chamber of Commerce, and we came up with an idea to document the day’s events with a short video in the hopes of promoting small businesses not only in the lovely city of Coral Gables but all over South Florida.

Participating shops included: Books & Books, The Giving Tree, Montica Jewelry, Tarpon Bend Raw Bar & Grill, Sloane Square & Barber Shoppe, and Rene Ruiz.

Subscribe in a reader and never miss a new post or video. You won’t be sorry…promise!

December 11, 2011

Blog The Written Word

Twitter Chats, Leadership, and Fantastic Ideologies: A Rant

by Dan Perez December 7, 2011

written by Dan Perez

Yesterday, I came across a blog post from business blogger Ted Coine titled “Is It Too Late For Today’s CEOs?” It was an observation on the current state of today’s CEOs compared with those of the past century. The general theme of the post can be summed up as “20th Century CEOs and their tired philosophies are out and the 21st Century CEOs are gonna be better, stronger, faster” (kind of like “The Six Million Dollar Man“). A blog post based on ideology with the sole intention of getting an “Amen” from the social media “evangelists”, nothing more. But that’s how you get to be a “thought leader” these days, yes?

Turns out that the same Mr. Coine also happened to be the guest moderator of last night’s #LeadershipChat on twitter (which takes place Tuesday nights at 8pm ET). The chat, which focuses on leadership principles and best practices, is the brainchild of Lisa Petrilli and Steve Woodruff, two of the really, really, really good people on the social space. I hope they don’t hate me after this.

If you spend any amount of time on the chat, you’ll quickly realize that its common theme is usually something along the lines of how in a perfect world, today’s leaders and their teams would all be gathered around a giant bonfire, holding hands and singing Kumbaya while passing the social media bong pipe. Leaders are made of sugar and spice and everything nice on #Ledershipchat. Not usually my cup of tea but I guess it’s OK to dream about a kinder, gentler leader, right? Moreover, it offers a wonderful outlet for my pent up snark. But back to Mr. Coine…

The theme of this week’s chat was The Future of Leadership. And, again, it was the usual banter about how “21st-Century leaders understand power of enlightened self-interest” and how “in the new social world, employees follow their leaders because they want to” and the infamous “leaders think of their team first and themselves second” (it just ain’t #Leadershipchat until that one shows up). But as the chat was nearing the end, this brief exchange between Mr. Coine and myself took place:

Wow. Needless to say, I was rather surprised that Mr. Coine would really think that being ethical and putting people first had been egregiously omitted from the leadership practices of the past century. I mean, everybody’s entitled to their opinions, yes? But seriously, to throw such a huge blanket of indifference over all the leaders of the 20th century? But then I remembered that this was a chat on twitter. I mentally kicked myself for failing to realize that those types of statements are common in twitter chats. Silly me.

You see, most twitter chats are rife with fantastic ideology; how social media is gonna lead us, hand-in-hand to a better world. A world where our leaders listen more and talk less; a world where each and every member of the team really care about one another, a world where no team member is left behind (mission be damned!). A brave new world where the likes of Steve Jobs, former General Electric CEO Jack Welch, Walt Disney, Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham, Bill Gates, former Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca, Warren Buffet, George Merck, former Boeing president and Chairman William Allen, Richard Branson, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Walmart CEO Sam Walton, Henry Ford, Mahatma Gandhi, former Johnson & Johnson CEO James Burke, and the rest of the unethical leaders of the 20th century, would surely fail.

I’m sure that Ted Coine is a really nice guy. His profile pic emits warmth and friendliness, and he’s quite the handsome devil. But dear Mr. Coine, before you start calling out the leaders of the 20th century in favor of a generation of still unproven leaders, remember this: the great leaders are focused on results [duh?] and it will always be about results. And to think that the aforementioned leaders achieved theirs via surreptitious methods and/or by dumping on people is…well, pretty dang foolish. So why don’t you first wait and see what your 21st century leaders pull off before “dissing” a generation of leaders who have already built and rebuilt fortune 500 companies, fought for their country’s independence, and led 250,000 people on a march to Washington D.C.; all without the aid of facebook or twitter.

But then it wouldn’t be a twitter chat, would it? No, no it wouldn’t.

December 7, 2011

Blog It Is Written The Written Word

The Ballad of Patsy Brown: An AT&T Customer Service Story

by Dan Perez August 28, 2011

written by Dan Perez

I was going to write a letter to AT&T but then I said to myself, “What the heck? I’ll just blog about it!” Here goes:

Customer service success stories are usually hard to find. We’re quick to bark about bad service but not so fast to speak on those rare times where our urgent needs are satisfied by a company’s customer service department. Why? Well, because really good customer service is actually pretty rare, especially with larger, global companies. Usually, the smaller the company, the quicker the resolution of customer service issues (they can’t afford not to). With bigger companies (like AT&T, for example), it sometimes seems they can care less if they lose one little insignificant customer. A customer like me. Well, let me tell you how Patsy Brown turned big, bad AT&T into a “mom and pop” operation.

My troubles with AT&T started several months ago when I cancelled my phone service in favor of a VOIP (I use my cell phone for most of my calls so why pay $55/month for a home phone?). I did, however, elect to keep my internet service with AT&T. I was given a new account number for just the internet service but in the ensuing months, I received bills for the new AND the old (cancelled) account. So I called AT&T Customer Service (which is really the dreaded automated voice that offers you the option to “please say or enter” your account information). Of course, every time I try to say the information (right at the point where I think the dreaded automated voice has finished talking), he really isn’t finished talking so I end up cutting him off and have to start all over again; and when I try to enter my account information using the keypad (right at the point where I think the dreaded automated voice has finished talking), he really isn’t finished talking and I have to key in the number again, and again. And when I finally get through to a live person, it usually isn’t the “right” person so I get transferred to another department and have to navigate through the dreaded automated voice again. Anyone out there feel my pain?

The Dreaded Automated Voice

Well, I finally got through to the “right” person and told her my story from the very beginning. She promptly apologized for the inconvenience, told me to disregard the additional invoice, and assured me that the problem had been fixed. It wasn’t fixed. The next few months, I kept getting invoices for both accounts. So I called again this past weekend, navigated through the dreaded automated voice again, got transferred again, navigated through the dreaded automated voice yet again until I got to the “right” person and ended up having to tell her my story again from the very beginning. She offered up the obligatory apology for the inconvenience, told me to disregard the additional invoice, stated that she was going to cancel the inactive account and assured me that the problem had been fixed. Upon terminating the call, I realized that my internet (and internet-dependent VOIP) was suddenly not working.

Over the course of the next 24 hours, I navigated through the dreaded automated voice several times, got transferred several times, told my story from the very beginning several more times, got apologized to several times, expressed my growing displeasure with AT&T incompetence several times, and spent several hours with technical support who ultimately realized that the new account I was issued earlier that afternoon had an activation date of August 30^th (did I mention it was Saturday the 20th?) and that if I wanted to have the service order expedited, I would have to call customer service on Monday. 10 days without internet or VOIP because of an AT&T screw up? Seriously? Pissed. Big company, little me.

Escalation

So on Monday, I called back once again, navigated through the dreaded automated voice again, got transferred again, navigated through the dreaded automated voice yet again until I got to the “right” person, told her my story from the very beginning again, expressed my displeasure with AT&T screwing me, and insisted they get my internet service turned on immediately. After the obligatory apology for the inconvenience, she proceeded to tell me that my new order had not yet cleared the system and that until it did, there was no way she could expedite my order. She suggested I call back later to check if the order had cleared. Call back later? Oh, I don’t think so. I was so done with navigating the dreaded automated voice, getting transferred, navigating the dreaded automated voice again, and telling my story from the beginning over and over again. Time to man up.

I asked to speak to her supervisor (enough was enough!). After several minutes on hold, I was greeted by another woman’s voice who claimed to be a supervisor. I told her my story from the very beginning again, expressed my displeasure with AT&T screwing me again, and insisted they get my internet service turned on immediately…again. She apologized for the inconvenience (I was getting real tired of all the apologies) and confirmed what the previous customer service rep had told me. There was nothing she could do right now because of the current order status. She then suggested I give her a number where she can reach me, promised to look into my order and call me back. Call me back? Give me a break. Big company, totally screwed little me. Exasperated, I gave her my cell phone number and asked for her name. She said her name was Patsy Brown. I ended the call, defeated; the fight all but taken out of me. About an hour later, I received a call from an 888 number. It was Patsy Brown.

The Right Person

Patsy informed me that there were several unusual aspects to my account and and that the screw-up apparently started when my phone service was cancelled months ago. She asked that I be patient as she continued researching the source of the problem and promised to call me back as soon as she got some answers. OK, hold up. Did she just say that she was working to solve my service problem? That she was looking for the clues that would break this case wide open like Agatha Christies’s fictional detective Miss Marple? That she was going to spare me from having to navigate through the dreaded automated voice again, getting transferred again, and navigating through the dreaded automated voice yet again? It appeared I had finally found the right person. Before ending the call, I thanked her rather awkwardly. I really wasn’t expecting a call back. I put my cell phone down, looked at my wife and remarked, “She actually called me back.” I was cautious not to get too optimistic about the whole thing but the beginnings of a small grin had begun to form on my lips. Big, bad AT&T had just gotten a wee bit smaller.

Late that afternoon (sometime past 5pm), Patsy called me again. She informed me that after communicating with several different departments, she believed she had uncovered the root of the problem and wanted to know if I’d be home between 8am and 12pm the next day so that she can get authorization for a technician to come to my house to see if they could reconnect the service (she was still on the case!). I said yes. I then thanked her again and expressed my genuine appreciation for all her efforts. I told her I was sending her a virtual hug and she laughed. I wished her a good night and ended the call. I had a smile on my face. Big, bad AT&T had gotten even smaller.

Smaller Company, Bigger Me

The morning of the following day, I get a call from a technician. He wants to know if I’ll be home, he’s on his way to my house. He arrives about an hour later and gets to work on my main phone line. I get a call on my phone, it’s Patsy again. She’s calling to see if the technician got to my house. I tell her he’s here right now and she asks to speak to him. I pass the phone to the technician and watch as he slowly nods his head up and down a few times. He hands me back my phone. Patsy tells me he has all the information he needs to get my internet service back up. I’m starting to feel like AT&T’s only customer right now. Big, bad AT&T was now a very small business. I’m smiling again.

About an hour later, I’m back in front of my computer, my internet (and VOIP) finally working again. I’m happy. Later that afternoon, I get another call from Patsy Brown. She’s just checking to see if everything worked out OK. I tell her I’m back online. I struggle to elevate my “thank you” to the level where it makes clear how grateful I am for all her help; to express how I could never have imagined that someone from such a big, bad company like AT&T could have ever given such a damn about one tiny little customer like me. I tell her that she made a company with several million customers, a company that ranks #12 on the Fortune 500 list, a company whose stock is one of the 30 that make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average…

I tell Patsy Brown, employee ID# PB6722, that she made AT&T seem like a “mom-and-pop” operation.

Little company, big me. I like that.

August 28, 2011

Featured

Premier Networking Alliance of South Florida

by Dan Perez May 18, 2010

written by Dan Perez

Imagine being part of a powerful networking organization that not only provides the opportunity to grow, develop and strengthen your business through a network of diverse and dedicated professionals, but also believes in enriching the communities where we live and work through member-supported service projects.

Membership with PNA opens the door to limitless opportunities to create essential business and community connections, exchange ideas with fellow professionals and business owners, and turn acquaintances into friends who continuously support your goal of building your business to its greatest potential.

But with so many other local business organizations out there, what powerful tool did PNA utilize to differentiate their unique organization from the rest and help grow their membership? If you guessed “Video“, you guessed right!

Visit www.PNAnetwork.com to learn more!

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May 18, 2010