I was trying to find motor cycle rides on RedBalloon yesterday ? I could not find it yet I knew it was there. I had misspelled motor cycle ? at RedBalloon it is one word. So my results came up blank. This is a common mistake, so I asked my Development Guru what could be done ? he said “aha ? we already have a tool for this ? when we develop product we add in the misspellings so that…
Monthly Archives: November 2006
Lessons in Leadership.
Leadership is one of our core values at RedBalloon. I have often been asked to define leadership especially if the team member is not in a management role. I say we are all leaders ? but I liked this definition. I do not know who wrote the quote below… It is part of the BigMoo book which is a collection of ideas put together to raise money for
That’s expensive…
Business is simple. There are two ways to make a business profitable – sell more or reduce costs. If you get a bill for something, you analyze it and establish if there are any savings that can be made. But we don’t know what we don’t know. That is,? there is no monthly bill to let us know what disengaged employees cost us that month. What does it cost us when people are daydreaming, wishing they were somewhere else, gossiping…
True Romance…
I didn’t realise when I started this business what a difference we would get to make. Of the 100,000 customers in the first five years….I get to hear relatively few stories about their RedBalloon Day. Thanks so much for sharing – please keep letting me know…it makes all the anxiety and challenging moments of running a business disappear. ‘From booking our yacht B&B experience to actually ‘living’ it, I couldn’t have dreamed of a better and more indulgent way of…
Stop Yelling and Start Listening.
I had the wonderful opportunity to hear Tim Pethick, founder for Nudie Juice, speak this week. What a remarkable branding story. He shared some alarming numbers about how numb we have become to marketing messages. We have been yelled at by advertising for too long…we are over it. The point is – what are we as marketers doing about it? … Our role must change from being those who create noise ? to those who listen and respond. Customers want…
We?re happier than we were 12 months ago…
I picked this up this week in BRW. More than 44 per cent of Australian employees say the poor quality of their managers makes them very unhappy at work. Engineering tops the list of the unhappiest industry in which to work. according to Seek’s 2006 survey of Employee Satisfaction and Motivation. However, the good news is that workers are overall much happier this year than they were last year. 37 percent say they are happy or very happy compared with…
Being in the customers world.
I decided to be with our Pleasure Relations team on the phone for a day last week. What a fantastic experience. What a privilege to listen to customers first hand. I learned a fair bit, and I share without any judgement or making anyone wrong – it is just how it is. People Don’t Read Why should they? If you are running a web site then it must be absolutely evident what the customer is getting and what is expected…
Do you want loyal customers and committed employees?
In one of those many emails that I subscribe to – this comment really struck a cord with me. “Do you want loyal customers and committed employees?” Now given that we put the book together “Happy People = Happy Customers = Happy Profits . It is good to be reminded of the answer. The answer is, without a doubt committed employees. So all week I’ve asked myself the question, ‘how do I match up?’. Do we practice what we preach…
Imagine running a business based on fun - that's what I decided to try when I left a very serious corporate career in marketing to set up RedBalloon...
Time to give…
I never would have left corporate life if I had not become a mother. And what a privilege it is to have healthy, happy, growing children. (You should hear the cherubs sing Christmas carols – a delight). I was reading an article in Inc. about when should a company start getting involved with philanthropy. The author argued, “Lead by example. It’s up to you to convey the importance of giving back.” I think it is also important to understand what…