It’s been a big week at RedBalloon. We announced the appointment to CEO of Kristie Buchanan, who has been acting in the role for 12 months. Our head of security Dexter was followed around by a film crew and featured on The Project on Channel Ten. And the news I really want to share here: We have welcomed Richard England and Atlassian Founder Scott Farquhar to our Board, signalling the start of a new chapter in our journey. Richard is a seasoned…
This year is off to a flying start and we are already seeing some very positive shifts. This is what I have already noticed. What have you found that is different this year than last? 1. Customer intimacy becomes reality – not only have we moved our language away from ‘call centers’ and ‘CRM’, to being all about ‘Customer Love’ – and creating brands people love. The focus on the customer experience will be fundamental to performance results – NPS…
Over the years I have had many people say to me “what a fantastic idea RedBalloon is..” often followed by the statement “I was going to do something like that” or “I wish I’d thought of it.” Ideas and creativity are critical to the success of any venture. I was in Utah last week at and Entrepreneur Organization conference and the opening speaker was serial entrepreneur Josh Linkner. He opened his presentation with a US business story about the Dollarshaveclub.com…
One of RedBalloon’s business values is ‘a sense of humour and fun’. I am blessed to come to bound out of bed every day looking forward to my day at work. It strikes me that the basic tenets of encouraging fun and productivity in the workplace, I learnt between the ages of three and five. If we share everything, play, be curious, hold hands and stick together (and we learned to cut and paste – we now use different tools…
This week I am in San Fransisco and there is much to do and many people to meet. Many of tech companies are headquartered here – it is like coming to the heart of technology innovation. All of these businesses are busy inventing the ‘next big thing’ – whilst trying to protect what they have already created. Recently I wrote for LinkedIn a list of office items that are headed for museums. Ironically of course, ‘once upon a time’ the…
This years theme at RedBalloon is all about Customer Love. We have been playing a game to improve our NPS score… I was recently reminded of this top ten from Zappos.com: 1. Make customer service a priority for the whole company, not just a department. A customer service attitude needs to come from the top. 2. Make WOW a verb that is part of your company’s everyday vocabulary. 3. Empower and trust your customer service reps. Trust that they want…
I am finally back in the office after a wonderful three weeks enjoying the Australian summer with the family on the Central Coast. Apart from writing a blog or two I completely relaxed- did a crossword, played totem tennis and my 14 year old son completely thrashed me at chess… Now I am ready for a big, bright and happy 2013 at RedBalloon. According to my diary this week: Monday: one on one’s in the office Tuesday & Wednesday: Client…
It’s the beginning of another year and 2013 is set to be a fulfilling and exciting one… and it has started with a flurry – I’ve been writing this blog for 2571 days (but who’s counting) and in that time I have shared 713 posts… now my writings have been nominated for ‘Business Blog’ of the year… but it is a popularity vote… so if you have a moment and like what you read then could you vote please… So…
[Posted to LinkedIn a few weeks ago - and it came in as #11 the most read posts on LinkedIn in 2012 - some of the 1000 comments are very amusing. Also exciting that I am now close to 50,000 followers of my blog posts] A few months ago I commented on Sheryl Sandberg TED talk in a blog post entitled: Three insights into why we lack women leaders. Which continues to make me ponder. Is there really a glass…
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...
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Australian Women – what we really want (and deserve)
In celebration of International Women’s Day (8 March) LinkedIn has released the ‘What Women Want @ Work’ global study. According to the study, the majority of Australian women (65 per cent) define professional success as having the right balance between work and personal life, and 68 per cent believe they can ‘have it all’. And while everyone’s version of ‘having it all’ is different – in the same way we all have our own definition of ‘success’ – overall, I…