Episode #61 of “Help My Business Sucks!” – iPhone 3GS, British Airways asks Employees to Work for Free, a Question About Sharing Videos Automatically Online, Printing on Envelopes, and a BIG Marketing Lesson from Fisher Wealth Management.
June 23, 2009Episode #61 – “Nostalgia Was Better in the Old Days! 
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Websites and resources mentioned in the show:
Infusion (Get a FREE Trial of the #1 Marketing Management System)
Interested in my new Magical Marketing Experience Mastermind Group? It’s my brand new coaching program that will run for 12 months from July. Fill in this form and I’ll get back to you once full details have been confirmed. Note, there will be an application form, but priority will be given in the order that these forms are received.
TrafficGeyser (The service that distributes your videos throughout the web)
ActionEnvelope.com (get colored envelopes, printed on)
NiftyClicks (Discover the very latest web tools and resources)
Get a Private Telephone Consultation with me (to Help YOUR Business)
Buy This Week’s T-Shirt(from National Media Services)
Support the show, and benefit yourself! Don’t forget to check out the great, free trial from Infusion, it’s what I use to manage my own business.
In this episode I unveil my brand new iPhoie 3GS, live on the show!
Did you hear about British Airways asking their employees to work for free for a month, to help the company out?! You can imagine what I thought of that!
We send out Microwave Marketing in black envelopes, with silver printing in the corner, and a lot of people comment on how good the package looks, so I’ll share my supplier with you.
This week’s BIG marketing lesson is from Fisher Wealth Management. Don’t worry if you’ve never heard of them. You’ll understand the lesson, and that’s what counts. It’s very important to get inside the customers mind!
Enjoy the show!
Regards,
June 24th, 2009 at 4:18 am
Andrew,
As always love the show. The airlines are in the toilet and drowning. Will they ever catch on?
June 24th, 2009 at 4:44 am
Great show as always! As to BA and their request for employees to take a “earnings holiday”…I’d suggest that the company start with the “fat cats” at the top first. Chop their bloated salaries, cut their monsterous expense accounts, take away their company cars and shut off their bonuses. That should save the company a couple billion dollars right there! The thing that really irritates about these type of requests is that next year the company will be announcing record profits…which the employees will see none of!
As to the iPhone…couldn’t care less. Didn’t want the first ones, don’t want the new ones.
But, then again I think texting is one of the stupidest ideas ever foisted on the pulbic. Why text someone when you can call them??
That’s all for now…
June 24th, 2009 at 4:47 am
Love your show. Hate the colored envelopes! I took you up on the free issue of Microwave Marketing a month or so back. The day it came, there was a monsoon here in Daytona Beach (typical for summer afternoons!). The envelope got wet and the colored ink ran all over me, my white pants and the car seats. Fortunately the ink came off me and the car seats, but my pants were history. I would recommend NOT using dark envelopes!
June 24th, 2009 at 5:09 am
Hi Andrew, love the show as always – always great to see a fellow Brit making waves
Anyway, re: the Traffic Geyser thing, a free alternative is called Tubemogul.com, and while not a patch on traffic geyser, it does automate submission to a few video sites.
cheers!
Tony.
June 24th, 2009 at 5:19 am
I think the problem with BA’s work for free “offer” was their lack of marketing. Who in the world wants to work for free? No one! Why propose something that on its face sounds horrible when you can instead wrap it up in some marketing and at least make it sound somewhat palatable. Maybe they could have achieved the same financial result by issuing a “temporary” pay cut or by only paying a reduced pay rate during vacations, etc. I think the core issue is that they didn’t even attempt to make it sound “not too bad”.
June 24th, 2009 at 6:47 am
Great work, as usual, Andrew.
BA going all out and asking its employers to work for free, to me, represents two conflicting principles of management:
1. Portrayal of weakness
&
2. Being transparent
Now where do we divide the line between the two is interesting, especially in this case.
Any thoughts on this, Andrew ?
June 24th, 2009 at 9:25 am
Hi Andrew,
Whenever companies try to fix finances by cutting labor costs, it means they don’t have a clue about what to do to make money. Labor costs are an easy thing to see in the debit column, but the real problems are on the income side. Labor costs are really just a mirage. It looks like it is helping, but it obscures the real problem: How to make more money.
June 24th, 2009 at 9:36 am
Hi Andrew, Good stuff, again. BA is asking for employees to give up something, ok, but what is BA going to do for its employees ahould they get back into the black. I don’t think they thought this through all the way. Just got to say, I’m glad I don’t work for BA and have to make that decision. Would I get fored if I refused to give up my salary?
I got a letter from Fischer Investments too. They invited me to a lucheon to explain their program. But the point I want to make is they got me to read their letter. Well, I just used their method to send out a solicitation to my niche. I’ll let you know what happens, should you be interested.
Thanks for the show,
Hal
June 24th, 2009 at 11:42 am
Hi Andrew!
I refuse to get an iphone. I can not stand Apple – their product placement practices are terrible. And a phone that JUST got MMS now? Eh – what? 3MP camera?? What a joke.
Now, if BA paid SOME attention to people that are actually bringing in the money – CUSTOMERS – they would not have to resort to these ridiculous measures. But BA – and many others – have no idea what customer service is.
Thank you!
June 24th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
I’m going to get an iPhone as soon as my contract runs out in September with Verizon Wireless.
I was looking at them just this Sunday. It just seems like you can’t ignore it any longer. Meaning, as a business owner you’d be crazy not to know what iPhone apps are available. etc.
June 24th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
For those not into Apple products, iphone MAC computers… that’s awesome – mor efo rme… keep using your ridiculous PC that is slow as hell and has a million bugs and issues =)
June 24th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
Once you’ve had Mac, you’ll never go back!
For those of you interested in health – you may want to know that the iMac desktop with LCD screen is VERY safe in terms of electromagnetic radiation.
The screen emits virtually no radiation and for the CPU (in behind the screen) the radiation drops to virtually nothing by the time you get about 18″ away from the screen. The testing was done by Milt Bowling – Canada’s expert on EMR issues.
So if you’re pregnant, or planning on it, or spend more than two hours a day in front of your computer, or have health issues, you definitely should consider this aspect.
June 24th, 2009 at 9:25 pm
No kidding! You said it sister!
June 24th, 2009 at 10:56 pm
Thank you Andrew. Personally, I have no interest in the iPhone. I bought an LG Dare a few months ago, canceled the internet access, canceled the GPS, canceled the texting service (and actually stopped it from even being able to receive texts), and canceled the pay-on-demand music service….just a bunch of extras that add up to a lot of cost at the end of the day.
Airlines…hmm. If I was an employee of theirs, I’d be outta there! What a joke. And with no guarantee that those people will even have jobs at the end of 4 weeks. Wouldn’t that be a kicker? 4 weeks without pay…and then you’re laid off because the company still managed to go belly-up!
Dr. Scott
http://www.hilltopwellness.com
http://www.hilltopwellness.blogspot.com
June 24th, 2009 at 11:02 pm
Still trying to get used to that British sense of humor.
You report that British Airways asked their employees to work for free.
Then you thank Infusionsoft for making it possible to bring the show to us at no cost.
After that, I don’t really think I can pass judgement on BA, Andrew!
June 24th, 2009 at 11:52 pm
Ted,
I don’t see the connection betwee BA and Infusion, am I missing something?
Infusion sponsor the show in return for me mentioning their product to viewers. That simply means the show is being subsidized by a third party, which is a good way of doing business in my opinion.
Regards
Andrew
June 25th, 2009 at 10:54 am
It just struck me funny that you’re working for “free,” asking us to comment on people being asked to work for free.
I certainly didn’t mean to criticize your model or your sponsor. Both are excellent.
My apologies.
TD
June 25th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Hi Ted,
I’m not offended, I just don’t see any connection, sorry. You see I don’t work for free! Far from it, this show is highly profitable. Just because YOU (and everyone else) don’t pay to watch it doesn’t mean that I’m working for free. Those who have taken my course about WebTV know that there are 7 different profit streams included in each show!
I’m actually pleased to hear your comment because it means I’m doing it right. You THINK that I’m not making any money, which means my marketing is being done right! I hate confrontational, intrusive marketing, like traditional TV ads, which is why I developed something very different.
Actually, probably the #1 question I get from viewers is, ‘how do you make money from your show?’ That’s one of the reasons I put together the WebTV course, so that others could do the same in their niche.
Regards
Andrew
June 26th, 2009 at 8:57 pm
Entering the conversation that is happening in the customers mind.
The best piece of advice I’ve heard all month.
June 27th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
I’ve been a loyal viewer of Andrew’s show for over a year now and have passed on many of his tips to my local clients.
British Airways … makes me wonder whether top management are really committed to cutting costs, or indeed serious about asking employees to take a pay cut for a month?
How can top management expect this of their staff if they are not also prepared to lead by example and work for free themselves??
June 28th, 2009 at 12:18 am
Interesting ideas here. Thanks for posting, will add to my RSS feed.
June 28th, 2009 at 12:37 am
Hi Andrew,
Thanks for the tip on Traffic Geyser. I have just signed up for a free month and have been given mixed opinions on the product. I’ll give it a shot now that I know its not going to be disliked by the search engines.
Thanks for a great show.
Ludwina Dautovic
The Red Tent Woman
Australia
June 30th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
Totally agree BA should find another way, but andrew – most of us don’t have choices – for example, i fly to newcastle often – my choices? KLM or BA. That’s it
The real problem is a lack of a free market (as is the problem with the whole economy!)
June 30th, 2009 at 6:48 pm
And RE: traffic geyser – i know it means well, but i find that it promises a bit more than it delivers. I’ve found tubemogul to be fairly useful and free
July 25th, 2009 at 10:41 am
Nice site. go to my favorites. TNx
July 27th, 2009 at 12:00 am
I have to say its crazy that BA is asking people to work without pay. They can find other ways to cut costs.
August 5th, 2009 at 10:06 am
Ya put a smile in my face.
August 5th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
Hey very nice blog!! Man .. Beautiful .. Amazing .. I will bookmark your blog and take the feeds also…
August 8th, 2009 at 5:23 am
Excellent site. It was pleasant to me.