Seth Godin just posted a brilliant blog post (again) about SPAM, and about abusing a customer’s permission. Backstory: The Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) decided Tuesday that they would ROBO call their members. It’s kind of ironic that an organization that relies upon, evangelizes, and literally stands for word-of-mouth advertising would bow to such low standards. It’s directly opposed to their own stated mission of ethical standards.

So how could this happen? A couple of insights:

Technology is making it so cheap to interrupt someone that even the holy can be tempted by the lure of immediate results such that even an organization that should be absolutely opposed to this kind of technology not only embraced it, but were boasting of their efforts on Twitter. That is until the entire marketing community overwhelmed them with a major spanking in public. Now the “convo” that they wanted to keep rolling has taken a life of it’s own and is undoubtedly something WOMMA would do anything to stop. Right now they are reaching for their “disaster recover” binders and Googling “Tylenol.”

This leads to another insight – playing with fire can get you burned. By participating in social media there is an inherent contract that you are no longer in control of your message. It’s a very powerful tool with very sharp edges that cuts both ways. A quick search of @WOMMA on twitter shows an overwhelmingly negative response to their tactics. This should be a warning to anyone that they need to be squeaky clean in this era of instant news cycles where everyone is a publisher. And when Seth Godin takes the time to call you and tell “You’re doing it wrong” you shut the F up and listen.

Another problem is that regulators are asleep at the switch. I don’t expect government to be everywhere in our lives, but this is a prime example of the FCC being woefully out of date with technology. If you don’t need a brain to use ROBO calling, perhaps you should at least have to get a license or answer some questions like “Have you been drinking today?” We made fun of the lack of prosecution of spammers (it’s pathetic) last summer during a stunt that we videotaped.

You might be thinking this point that perhaps it was a highly considered ploy to drive PR – but I guarantee you that is not the case no matter how they will try to spin it. At best they were moronic, at worst they were desperate. You may create some PR for yourselves, but when it diametrically opposes your message – your going to be a punch line on the Tonight Show. Your name recognition will certainly go up – but be careful what you wish for. Ask Steve Bartman if that is a good thing after he ruined the Cubs 2003 world series run. In a mindless grab of selfishness, because it was easy, he derailed his favorite team’s hopes for victory. He and the organization may never be the same, and I’m afraid this may be the case here.

Republicans Vow to Repeal Obama Bedtime

In a stunning blow to President Obama, the Republican Party unanimously opposed the new bedtime hours recently given to Sasha and Malia by the President and the First Lady. “It’s irresponsible and unfathomable” commented John Boehner (he requests that you pronounce it “Bay-ner,” by the way). “We’re outraged that the President would not consult and then summarily kowtow to the congressional minority.”

When asked what bedtime he and his party recommended, the congressman said, “We oppose all bedtimes suggested by the President and the First Lady and recommend an incremental approach. We also reject the government takeover of bedtimes.” RNC Chairman Michael Steele was finally reached outside Voyeur, a Los Angeles club where topless dancers can be seen mimicking sex and bondage acts, and he observed, “I’ve seen firsthand what can happen when bedtimes are not respected.” …read more

Tiger Woods Thanks Jesse James

Email Broadcast is reporting that an intercepted text message from Tiger Woods to Jesse James read: “Dude, THANK YOU! Got 2 tix for you at Masters will call. Let’s get drinks after.” …read more

Toyota Selects – Then Fires – New Ad Firm

Beleaguered by its public image regarding quality, especially pertaining to sticking accelerators, Toyota reached out to PR Firm Chiat/Day to solve its problems. Only after the announcement did Toyota executives realize that the same ad house had created the Energizer bunny campaign, leading them to summarily dismiss the firm as “Not a good strategic fit at this time.”

Woman’s Life Work Worth $500 Reward

A woman who had been robbed on several prior occasions left her life’s work on her computer, without a backup, and that computer has been stolen. Her losses consist of over 40 musicals written over 20 years, including the current production, “The Princess and the Iso Peanut.” There is a $500 reward for the return of her computer. Observant neighbors saw one potential suspect strip off his clothes and baseball cap in a nearby yard and saw another man jump a fence while an accomplice waited at the car with the trunk open. …read more

Paddleboarder Dates Whale

In what can only be described as bizarre behavior, a woman recuperating from a broken foot decided to paddle across 40 miles of open ocean, during which time she had a long encounter with a Minke whale. The whale was seen blowing kisses at Nelson. …read more

Everyday around 1 pm my belly starts to grumble the low pitched words “Spicy Chicken.” There is a deli across the street run by an Asian family that serves up pretty good food on the cheap. What’s remarkable about this business is the young guy at the front counter who remembers EXACTLY what everyone orders. Not just that you have the chicken sandwich, but that you have it with no mayo and extra onions and cheddar cheese. Customer after customer walks in the door and he instantly recognizes them and their usual order.

Today he saw me in line behind some “new” customers who were still making up their mind. He pointed his finger down with eyebrows raised visually asking me if I want my usual to eat in or to go. I pointed down and he called out my order to the kitchen while the ladies in line never even noticed that I had virtually skipped the line. When I get my order (with brown rice not white) he also remembers to serve it to me on a plate, and not in a styrofoam container since I mentioned my preference before.

He is also a study of efficiency wasting zero movement making change at lightning speed, calling out orders to the kitchen, calling out finished orders “Your Taco Salad is ready” and this is the amazing part – he makes eye contact with every single person while smiling and genuinely wishing each customer a nice day. This small family business might not come to a screeching halt if it weren’t for the Linchpin on this business – but it’s volume would probably be cut in half. The lunch rush is probably 75% of their sales and no matter how many people are inside this tiny deli – your order is taken within seconds of you entering the door. Ordinary performance wouldn’t cut it and sales would be lost due to line balking if it weren’t for him. It’s quite amazing to see and is truly remarkable. His attitude isn’t “how fast do I need to go to meet demand and not lose customers”, but rather “how fast can I possibly go while still being very polite.”

Lessons:
What improvements could you make to your business that could create the same “amazing service.” Could you do it WAY faster than the industry standard like our client Mor Furniture that incredibly offers SAME DAY delivery when you buy before 7:30 pm? Could you come to someone’s house to perform a beauty treatment for the same price like our client MOD Beauty Squad? Could you somehow over deliver on your ordinary promises? Make a list of the aspects of the service or product that you deliver for your customer and ask if you could make any of these extraordinary and remarkable somehow.

Here’s an ordinary deli business – one of hundreds in the city that has one remarkable quality – amazingly efficient service. It’s held together by a good team, but with an exceptional front man. Another question – who is the Linchpin in your business? Are you? Do you want to become one? The first person to reply to this email will win Seth Godin’s new book “Linchpin – Are You Indespensible”

If you are not yet an avid reader of Seth Godin you should be. You can sign up for his newsletter or RSS feed here: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/

Congratulations to Trey Smith who won December’s email reply and was sent a book.