ETD: 855 Staying in touch; The psychology of E-Commerce;
Calling All Stationery Vendors!
E-Tailer's Digest
etd_post at gapent.com
Thu Jan 27 13:53:17 GMT 2005
E-Tailer's Digest --- Everything for the Retailer
Issue #0855 January 27, 2005
George Matyjewicz, Moderator mailto:georgem at gapent.com
Published by: GAP Enterprises, Ltd. http://www.etailersdigest.com
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CONTENTS
[1] Greetings
[2] Staying in touch
[3] The Psychology of E-Commerce
[4] Calling All Stationery Vendors!
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[1] Greetings.
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Hi All:
I had an interesting call from an old client, whom I have known for 20
years, who want to do some more work (last project 10 year ago). It got me
to thinking about the importance of keeping in touch with people. What do
you do to stay in touch?
I read a very interesting piece on writing for e-commerce. For those who
may not know it, writing a letter is an art. People read the first
paragraph, the signature line and, if interested, the body of the
letter. So, a "PS" is important for grabbing attention, since it is after
your signature. Unfortunately, that logic doesn't work online. What do
you think?
Gifts & Decorative Accessories will publish its annual Stationery and
Related Products Survey in the April 2005 issue. So, log on and fill out
the survey if you do business in that arena.
Tell us about your business, which will remain for posterity at
our "Members: Who Are You?" site. This is a courtesy to our members who
contribute to our forum, and not merely a way to advertise for
free. Anything to do with the retail world, i.e., supplier, retailer,
consulting, etc. http://etailersdigest.com/resources/members/index.htm And
we have a form there for you to tell us about you. As I said when I first
proposed this idea, we have "known" each other for a long time, yet we
often don't know anything about each other. So, tell us who you are and
what you do.
Now, let's get to everything for the retailer.
Sincerely
George Matyjewicz, PhD
Chief Global Strategist, GAP Enterprises, Ltd.
mailto:georgem at gapent.com
http://www.etailersdigest.com
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[2] Staying in touch
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I had a great call yesterday. in 1985 I did an RFP for a client to bring
in a new IT system ("computer system" in those days). 10 years later
(1995) he tracked me down again (since I left the company where we first
met) to do another RFP. "This one lasted 10 years, so I figure you must
know your stuff." Well, yesterday he contacted me again saying it's time
for another RFP. ;-)
What's really strange is how he goes out of his way to find me. The last
time we met was when I was in Tortola, and we happened to meet on the
streets in NYC on one of my trips back. This time he contacted a number of
mutual colleagues to see if anybody knew where to find me.
Paul used to be head of IT for a Fortune 1000 company, and joined his
family's (father-in-law owned) business. When we first met they were doing
$5 million in sales. At the last RFP it was $20 million. There are plenty
of people out there who do what I do. Yet he tracked me down.
My point to this is to show how powerful old contacts are and how you need
to stay in touch with them. They will generate ongoing business and it
will be easier to sell them new services, than it would to a new prospect
who doesn't even know you. What you should do is setup a tickler file that
forces you to stay in touch. Some folks should be contacted once a quarter
and others monthly. Keep in front of them!
Some thoughts:
1. Do a newsletter and send it to them each month. With e-mail, it's
easy. If you don't have all e-mail contacts, do a mailing. Snail mail is
still powerful.
2. Use postcards. Martha Retallick the "Passionate Postcarder" uses
postcards very effectively and has written some material on how to use them
(Martha is a frequent contributor to E-Tailers
Digest). http://www.passionatepostcarder.com/
3. Call. We are all busy, but you should call people once in a while just
to say hello. How's the family? How's business? Nice gestures to show
you care. I used to have one guy call me once a quarter, and he
stopped. Only recently did I realize that I gave out a job to a new
company, when it could have gone to him. I apparently was out of his life.
4. Get out of the pigeon hole. Too often folks (or we) put us in a pigeon
hole - we are programmers, or web designers, or accountants. They don't
know what else you do. Tell them.
5. Sell. The average sales person calls a prospect three times before
giving up. The average customers buys after six calls. So, if you want to
be above average, stay in touch.
Hope this helps.
George
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[3] The psychology of E-Commerce
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Anthony Mitchell writes in E-Commerce Times that each organization can
define and adopt its own unique style for e-commerce and e-mail
applications, whereby every Web page and e-mail conveys a sense of
stylistic consistency.
There is no contemporary style guide applicable to the modern demands of
e-commerce and e-mail communication. The ones that come closest are those
published by the American Psychological Association. Their style is less
restrictive and faster moving than competing approaches, which enhances its
suitability for e-mail and e-commerce applications. They recommend using
active verbs. The American Psychological Association's materials include
guidance on how to properly cite electronic media.
The American Psychological Association has issued the following guidance on
removing ethnic and racial bias from language, guidance that is relevant to
both e-mail and e-commerce Web sites:
"Authors are encouraged to write in accordance with the principles of
cultural relativism, that is, perceiving, understanding and writing about
individuals in their own terms. Thus, indigenous self-designations are as
important as designations by others, although authors must be cognizant of
the fact that members of different groups might disagree about their
appropriate group designation and that these designations might change over
time."
The American Psychological Association recommends being specific about
which community or ethnic group is being referred to. Their policy on
spelling is as follows:
"Racial/ethnic groups are designated by proper nouns and are capitalized.
When names of colors are used to refer to human groups, they are
capitalized (e.g., Blacks instead of blacks; Whites instead of whites).
Hyphens are not used in multiword labels (e.g., Mexican Americans instead
of Mexican-Americans). "
In distinguishing between aggregations of men and women, the American
Psychological Association recommends that the word gender be used rather
than sex. Their advice on removing gender bias in writing is detailed at
http://www.apastyle.org.
If you do not update your style, particularly as it relates to ethnicity,
race and gender, then you risk alienating people who are different from
you. You also risk alienating people who are similar to you but who do not
want to be too closely identified with someone who might unwittingly be
embarrassing themselves.
Religious Content
The American Psychological Association's style guides do not provide advice
on minimizing religious faux pas in business communications. However, in a
rapidly globalizing economy where organizations are becoming increasingly
heterogeneous, it often makes sense to review and minimize the religious
content of business communications.
In most Western business environments, the presence of an individual who
becomes too extreme in their religious evangelism in normal business
communications can cause unnecessary distractions. It risks creating a poor
image for an organization.
Exceptions to the aforementioned guidance on evangelism are expected,
however, if your organization is openly identified with a particular
religion and you are communicating with others for the purpose of promoting
or underscoring your faith. In such organizations, standard business
etiquette regarding religion would obviously be modified, but hopefully
with a stylistic consistency apparent throughout the organization.
Professionalism means avoiding ostensibly humorous or disrespectful remarks
about an established religion in normal business communications.
Details at...
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/39958.html
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[4] Calling All Stationery Vendors!
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Gifts & Decorative Accessories will publish its annual Stationery and
Related Products Survey in the April 2005 issue. To do that, we need your
input, which you can provide online by responding to our survey questions.
(There are only half a dozen, so it won' take any time.) Survey results
will appear in the April issue in time to guide retailers shopping The
National Stationery Show in May, as well as other spring shows. Your
answers will be combined with others to provide a composite industry
report. No individual company information will be published. So, please,
click here now! http://www.furnituretodayonline.com/data/GDAStatSvy05.htm
Quinn Halford, Editor In Chief
Matthew Kalash, Managing Editor
Gifts & Dec Direct
www.giftanddec.com
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