Saw an article in the WSJ today...bankruptcy lawyers are doing a booming business. And law firms are having a hard time hanging on to their top dogs. Nice problem to have, if you are a lawyer. But what frustrates me is that companies going into bankruptcy--if they are planning on restructuring and coming back out again--will pay top dollar for legal counsel, financial assistance, banking help...the list goes on and on. But almost none of these companies thinks about hiring a marketing and public relations company.
I admit, that's my business, so I'm a bit biased as to the value of good marketing and pr help. But what good does it do if during the months-(and sometimes years-) long process of going in and out of bankruptcy, you lose focus on communicating with your customers, employees, suppliers and the media? So many companies cut the marketing budget...and sometimes the entire department...when bankruptcy looms. But this is the exact opposite of what a company should do.
Market share erodes when you are not in the public eye. The media speculates you are merely selling off assets and offloading debt. Your suppliers lose faith in your ability to bounce back if you go dark on them. Employees who hear nothing but crickets begin to look for other, more viable employement options if a company can't provide updates and a timeline for emerging from the bankruptcy.
What's left to build your new company on?
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Upspeak? Does it really make women sound stupid? Yes?
There are a lot of teenagers who have this annoying speech tic...but I notice it among women at work quite frequently. Everything is a question. I must admit, I have no tolerance for this. Either you are confident in what you are saying, or you have a legitimate question. Couching one as the other defeats your purpose.
Women also use far too much wishy washy talk...stop saying "I think it might..." before you introduce an opinion at a meeting. Just say "It is..." or "It will be..." putting all those namby pamby qualifiers in front of your opinion just makes people dismiss it out of hand.
And stop populating your emails with the same sort of verbiage. Useless. Get to the point.
Ok?
Women also use far too much wishy washy talk...stop saying "I think it might..." before you introduce an opinion at a meeting. Just say "It is..." or "It will be..." putting all those namby pamby qualifiers in front of your opinion just makes people dismiss it out of hand.
And stop populating your emails with the same sort of verbiage. Useless. Get to the point.
Ok?
Electronic Familiarity Breeds Contempt.
Let me preface this by stating, Yes. Yes, I do read my son's text messages from time to time. He is 16, he lives under my roof and his cell phone is on his father's plan. I will not apologize for this, ACLU.
But what I have noticed is that teenagers (and pre-teens, too...yes, I read my 12-year-old daughter's text messages occasionally) say things via texting that they would NEVER say to each other face-to-face. The messages reflect a degree of intimacy that is pretty risque, even by today's standards.
When my son was 15, he had a short-lived relationship...he used to wax poetic about his girlfriend's hips, tell her he was there for her when she was feeling down...he was downright eloquent at times...and sometimes I wanted to slap him for his cheeky comments. When I brought this up to him (without revealing I had read his phone) he fought me on it for a minute...then probably thought about some of his recent texts and finally agreed.
If I had to guess from just reading his text messages, I would have made the assumption that he had already gotten pretty far with this girl. Not 100% sure, but I don't think they did much more than kiss.
People also say things to each other via email that they would never have the balls to say to their face. Especially at work. The emails are usually not sexual in nature, but they can be terse, condescending and downright rude at times. It's much harder to be snotty when you are looking someone in the eye. I'm constantly telling people to stop typing, get up from their desk, walk over and TALK to the person. It stops so much of the petty back and forth that email seems to foster.
LOL.
But what I have noticed is that teenagers (and pre-teens, too...yes, I read my 12-year-old daughter's text messages occasionally) say things via texting that they would NEVER say to each other face-to-face. The messages reflect a degree of intimacy that is pretty risque, even by today's standards.
When my son was 15, he had a short-lived relationship...he used to wax poetic about his girlfriend's hips, tell her he was there for her when she was feeling down...he was downright eloquent at times...and sometimes I wanted to slap him for his cheeky comments. When I brought this up to him (without revealing I had read his phone) he fought me on it for a minute...then probably thought about some of his recent texts and finally agreed.
If I had to guess from just reading his text messages, I would have made the assumption that he had already gotten pretty far with this girl. Not 100% sure, but I don't think they did much more than kiss.
People also say things to each other via email that they would never have the balls to say to their face. Especially at work. The emails are usually not sexual in nature, but they can be terse, condescending and downright rude at times. It's much harder to be snotty when you are looking someone in the eye. I'm constantly telling people to stop typing, get up from their desk, walk over and TALK to the person. It stops so much of the petty back and forth that email seems to foster.
LOL.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Saturday Night in Downtown Detroit-DEAD
Went to the boat show in Detroit over the weekend...granted, it was snowy all day, but not that snowy. And it stopped by about 4pm. But the boat show? Dead. So quiet and empty it was kinda weird. This is Saturday night. And I know no one has any money for a new boat, (although I was only in Cobo for two hours and they rang the sales bell 3 times while I was there), usually you can muster up a decent number of window shoppers.
And there were some good deals...apparently the attendance was down by 8% (frankly, it was down by about 98% on Saturday night) but sales were up, according to Great Lakes Boating.
But after that, we went to Greektown. And that was dead, too. We ate at the Laikon cafe...great food (but an annoying lack of designated smoking/non smoking areas...if you go, make sure you tell them you don't want to sit RIGHT NEXT to smokers) but also dead.
A large group did come in, getting the waiter all excited, but once they sat down and realized "you can't read anything on the menu!" they all got up and left. Save us from roaming rednecks who lose their bearings on the way to the casino.
And there were some good deals...apparently the attendance was down by 8% (frankly, it was down by about 98% on Saturday night) but sales were up, according to Great Lakes Boating.
But after that, we went to Greektown. And that was dead, too. We ate at the Laikon cafe...great food (but an annoying lack of designated smoking/non smoking areas...if you go, make sure you tell them you don't want to sit RIGHT NEXT to smokers) but also dead.
A large group did come in, getting the waiter all excited, but once they sat down and realized "you can't read anything on the menu!" they all got up and left. Save us from roaming rednecks who lose their bearings on the way to the casino.
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