Maurice van Tilburg Business card

I hate business cards.
Actually, more the people that go with them. To be more precise; the ones that can totally ruin a conversation or even an event by handing over their business card to everyone in the group pitching their “great” product, business or idea. Some cards are high-tech, transparant or even in wood or steel. I believe you can either spend time designing and handing out business cards or can be more remarkable in conversations, so people will remember you by your name.

Well, I changed my mind.

When I was in Dortmund last week for the e-Culture Fair (more on that later), I met Maurice van Tilburg. We had a brief casual chat and were about to split when he handed me a booklet and said “pick one, choose your favorite”.
There were approximately 100 business cards in his booklet, all hand-drawn and unique. Some were colorfull, others more basic. Some were abstract, others had people or objects on them. They weren’t the best, nicest or coolest business card drawings I have ever seen (@gapingvoid is and will always be the endboss of business card drawings), but they were nice and authentic. I felt like a kid in a candy store; which should I choose?

I chose one, a pretty colorfull but abstract one, that was more or less representative for all the cards he had in his deck and that would support my story when I would tell others about Maurice and his remarkable business card booklet.

Eventually Maurice asked me why I chose this one and we chatted on for a while on how even choosing a business card gives away something about your personality. Extremely enteresting.

I will never ever forget Maurice van Tilburg’s name and never ever forget what he does. He is a remarkable guy, even in the details.

No, I don’t have a problem to pay for service. I am happy to pay for the extra service I receive at my favorite hairdresser, optician and even bookstore. I can get my shirts a lot cheaper somewhere else, but I buy my shirts because I like the guy at the store. I go to specific restaurants because I love the service there. I reward service. I am not the best tipper in the world, but I think I am pretty average. I usually give a tip between 5-10% of my restaurant bill.

And I don’t want to be negative. I hate it when bloggers and twitterazi go rogue. I want to try to understand why they did this to me. I am not NMBS best customer, but I am pretty loyal. On average, I buy 8 international train tickets a month with a total value of approximately 300 euros (and on top of that, I buy a fair share of local/national tickets). I am a train evangelist. I love working in the train and usually promote it with passion.

And yes, this service fee of 7 euros obviously is a decent nudge mechanism to get people to buy online at nmbs-europe.com. I totally get that. But I still think it is a lot of money. That is why I went looking for more reasons why NMBS would have me pay this fee. I stumbled upon a leafle:

• NMBS Europe wants to bring you the best service every day. That’s why they invests in new technologies and well-trained personnel. As an example, they are redecorating the service desks at their stations in Brussels-South, Antwerp and Luik-Guillemins.
• They frame it as a “personal assistance fee” and they end the leaflet with “more than ever, we are at your service”.
• They state there is an evolution within the global travel branche to charge people when they want personal assistance with their purchases.

Ok. Well, my thoughts:

• Investing in new technologies and personnel. Sure, I get that. But why is your company the only company that charges me separately? Apple is investing in new technologies and personnel. So is Philips. So is Shell. They don’t charge me for that as an extra fee.
• Offer me an alternative. Both my Dutch ABN and ING bank cards don’t work at the NMBS ticket machines. So my only alternative to not paying 7 euros is to buy at nmbs-europe.com. That isn’t always convenient; I can’t always plan my trips several hours beforehand (to browse online and print it) and with the steep prices of Belgian mobile internet services it is a pretty costly operation to buy via mobile.
• Create stuff worth sharing. Not a dissatisfier every time you have a customer. I really believe that companies should exceed expectations at every touchpoint. Everytime you act remarkable, it will fuel positive conversations about your brand. But this works the other way around. Every time a person gets confronted with the 7 euro fee, that is a negative experience. Period.
• Nudge towards online. Yes, you want me to buy online. Yes, I understand that might be more convenient for us both (although in my case, it’s complicated). But it might have been a better idea to gradually increase prices for offline tickets and maintain the same prices online. That way I don’t feel getting punished every time I buy at the ticket counter.
• Relative service costs (Railways). In The Netherlands, the fee for buying the same international ticket at the ticket counter is 3 euros. That is a less than half of the NMBS service fee for the same service (well, to be honest, I usually really think the service at the Dutch ticket counters is actually better). I don’t get it.
• Relative service costs (Other). When I get good service in a restaurant, I pay up to 10%. Voluntarily. At the NMBS, when I get service (there is no quality insurance there), I pay 15%. I really really don’t get it.
• Manage expectations. When I pay 7 euros (15% of my total of 47 euros when I buy a single ticket from Ghent to Amsterdam) I expect a pretty good service. At decent restaurant I pay 10%, at the NMS 15%. That builds anticipation. By coincidence, a NMBS employee sold me a wrong ticket yesterday. When I pay 7 euro to get serviced, my failure tolerence is pretty low.
• When I pay I want a receipt. Seriously, when I pay 7 euros, at least give me a receipt or at least proof I got ripped of.

Because, seriously. There is a thin line between a “personal assistance fee” and just bad customer service. There is even a thin line between bad customer service and being ripped of. And I really felt that way today.

At Boondoggle, we tried to turn this dreadfull message into something remarkable. Judge for yourself.

Tom‘s take:

At this moment, I’m somewhere in the Flemish Ardennes region specializing in the noble art of surviving in the big Nothing. In this overconnected world this art is bound to get lost. That’s why I’m committed to gather knowledge on this art, to make sure our spouse will enjoy it as well and will never ask us “Daddy, what are holidays?”.

I will be back august 2nd. You will recognize me by the smile on my face.

My own out of office reply:

I am deeply impressed by Jim Stolze’s Virtual Happiness Project, his month without internet (more at http://www.virtualhappiness.org/2009/02/ted-university/).
So impressed that I will try it myself for one week. By chance, this week coincides with my holidays.

Until the 9th of August, you won’t find me twittering on http://twitter.com/polledemaagt, nor adding Boondoggle memes at http://lexicon.boondoggle.nl. Even more, I won’t read this email. For Virtual Happiness’ sake that is.

When you need someone that builds business for brands by being remarkable in the meantime, try Astrid Groenewegen at astrid.groenewegen@boondoggle.eu / @astridgr. She is pretty epic.

Please help make the out-of-office-osphere a better place.

Bagels & Beans Remarkable Rules

Some highlights:

We really don’t care how you pronounce “bagels”. We totally understand what you mean when you say “beagels” or “baggels”.

Complaining about slices of tomato and mozzarella or cheesecake that are cut unevenly is useless. We cut everything by hand.

And, my favorite:

It’s ok to bring your own food like hamburgers, fries and icecream, so we can serve something healthy with it.

Honoured but also a bit troubled.

To be honest: schools aren’t necessarily the best place to acquire the skills to make brands act remarkable in a digital age. Failing while trying? Yes. Connecting with others via the interwebs or offline events? Yes. Schools? Nope.

Of course, every year there are 2 or 3 students that really make the difference. But, for the rest, reading Kotler and being inspired by tired teachers who don’t have a clue what the internet is about won’t get them beyond creating concepts for hair dress salons and local community centers. And we desperately need skilled communication specialists.

It must be the worst case movie ever, but it still seems a remarkable story. A grocery store bagger named Johnny, who has Down Syndrome – took it upon himself to find a new way to reach out to customers, and completely revolutionized a store.

The story begins with employee-motivation expert Barbara Glanz. She claims in her own video that she spoke to an audience of 3,000 employees of a major grocery chain, some years ago. She told the crowd, “Every one of you can make a difference and create memories for your customers that will motivate them to come back”. So far, nothing new.

One bagger with Down Syndrome, Johnny, contacted her later to say he had thought about her advice, and came up with a plan to create those memories. Each day when he got home from work he would type and print out a thought for the day on the family’s home computer. Then, the next day, as he bagged groceries, he’d put a slip with his thought (signed with his name) into the bag.

The response was astonishing. Customers reported they had switched to shopping the store more often, as they didn’t want to miss any of Johnny’s thoughts. Soon his checkout line ran the length of the store, full of customers who refused to switch to shorter lines. Only Johnny’s line would give them the thought for the day.

Pretty cool how exceeding expectations on seemingly irrelevant touchpoints have huge consequences.
Note: It must be true, right? Who would misuse a Down-syndrome patient to build a story? And even, if it isn’t true; makes you think.

Tom Palmaerts (by Ellen de Vos)

Tom’s social skills are exceptional.

His skill to find thoughtleaders and connect with them is unprecedented. Even more, he is extremely apt in filtering thought leaders opinions into trends and topics (find some of his results on slideshare.net/trendwolves). In that way he is not like most researchers or trend watchers.
Qualitative, niche contacts help him grab the essence of youth trends and subcultures.

This earned him the title of Specialist Trendwatcher of the Year 2009 in The Netherlands.

Trendwolves

Tom on Linkedin

Tom on Twitter

Note: I worked for nearly a year with Tom at Ghent-based trendwatching/youthwatching agency Trendwolves.

"Dans nos prix sont inclus", no-nonsense service by In 't Spinnekopke

As the guys at 37signals put it in their masterpiece Rework:

Which part of your equation can’t be removed? If you can continue to get by without this thing or that thing, then those things aren’t the epicenter. When you find it, you’ll know it. Then focus all your energy on making it the best it can be. Everything else you do depends on that foundation.

Their subtlety also shows in their service. No-nonsense. A really subtle diss to all over-charging and extra-charging competitors is the icing on the cake (click to enlarge the image).

Derived from the scene from “Wag the Dog“.

Winifred Ames: Why Albania?
Conrad ‘Connie’ Brean: Why not?
Winifred Ames: What have they done to us?
Conrad ‘Connie’ Brean: What have they done FOR us? What do you know about them?
Winifred Ames: Nothing.
Conrad ‘Connie’ Brean: See? They keep to themselves. Shifty. Untrustable.