For the past 2 weeks I have been getting calls from 866-463-3021. When I pick-up there is no one on the other end; if I let it go to voice mail, no message. I put the number into Google and the first result was from 800notes.com.
Apparently 800notes.com allows users to enter in phone numbers to see who is using that number. It derives it’s information from user contributions so the results may not always be accurate. For the number above, there are actually 18 pages (as of this writing) of comments from people who have had this show up in their call log.
So the next time you get a call from an unknown number, look it up in 800notes.com to see where it is coming from. For me, I’ll be wading through all those pages to see who the hell is calling me!
I have a speed dial on my cell phone programmed to (866) JOTT-123 so I can record new task items on the go. If you are not familiar with Jott, it is a service that transcribes your voice message to text and sends it to you in an email. It’s perfect for collecting new to-do list items the moment you think of them.
In addition to the task to email functionality, Jott can be used to send tasks (or notes, reminders, etc) to:
Paul Muller over at the Caffination Podcast has come up with a great idea to help out those less technical: Adopt a Newb Day 2008. What Paul recommends is that you take time out of your day (on or near the 15th of April) to help out a friend, a coworker, a relative or a complete stranger with some technical assistance.
I think this is a brilliant and fun idea. I certainly take my tech knowledge for granted and this is a good way to “give back to the community”. I have certainly become a better teacher over the last year I’ve spent in consulting but at times I’ve struggled with trying to teach people things that come as second nature to me.
I hope you will join me in celebrating Adopt a Newb Day 2008. If you do, please leave a comment and let me know how it went. If you are looking for assistance, leave a comment as well or send me an email.
I have been using the Outlook search add-on by Xobni for the past few months and I have to say it is a great time-saver for me. It is lightning quick in searching my Outlook email compared to the built-in search Outlook provides.
In addition to the search capabilities, Xobni allows you to better navigate your email world. When you are viewing an email in Outlook, Xobni will display the contacts phone number (and a link to call if you have skype installed), recent conversations and recent attachments.
Have a look at the following youtube video to see all the features of Xobni.
The gist of the Walmart fiasco is that James, a blogger over at Men with Pens, bought what turned out to be a defective Kodak camera from Walmart as a gift for his daughter. While trying to return the camera he experienced some pretty poor customer service. From policy changes barring him from returning the camera to just flat out poor service it is pretty clear that James will take his future business elsewhere.
Compare that with the customer service my wife received from Winston Flowers. For Valentines Day I bought her a red rose flower arrangement and had it delivered to her office. After they were delivered she called to thank me and to tell me how beautiful they were.
Later in the day she received a call from Winston’s to ask how she liked the arrangement. She told them how beautiful they were and that she was very happy with the presentation. She mentioned that one or two of the roses in the back of the arrangement had some blackened edges presumably from frost. The customer service rep asked if she would be in the office all day and that they would like to send over another arrangement!
Later that day, Winston’s delivered the same arrangement, vase and all, to my wife with their apologies. If you are unfamiliar with Winston Flowers, they are high quality flowers, i.e.: expensive. In the name of customer service, they had no issue with sending over a complimentary $90 arrangement to try to secure a customer for life.
I am starting to realize a lot of conversational marketing now as I am reading Join the Conversationby Joseph Jaffe and one in particular that I watched last night. I was in my PJ’s with no pen/paper so take my recollection for what it’s worth! I will continue to look for the ad on YouTube and the Dodge website, it doesn’t seem to be available just yet.
The commercial starts with two individuals we are to assume work for Dodge designing cars. They are working at a drawing table and there is a car sketch on a board behind them. In from the left and behind walks an average woman we are to assume does not work for Dodge. She walks right up to the car sketch, picks up the marker and scribbles swirls around the back tires and wind lines off the back to indicate motion.
The designers turn to her and say, paraphrasing “So your saying it needs a bigger engine?”.
To me, this indicates that Dodge understands the two way street that is the conversational marketing Joseph speaks of in his book. They are showing us a “conversation” (albeit a contrived one since it was a staged commercial with actors and a script) between the consumer and the design staff for the car the consumer is interested in if it only had a bit more power.
Geoff on February 29th, 2008
It wasn’t too long after reading about James’ 
