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Comment Excellent Marketing Opportunity (Score 4, Interesting) 451

by univgeek (#42102297) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Troubling Trend For Open Source Company

Are the people calling you potential buyers of support? [Assuming they are not freeloaders by nature, individuals who might not want your business support, etc]

If they are potential buyers this is an EXCELLENT marketing opportunity. They are calling you for something they need. Converting that into a transaction is a clear path that many callers themselves may expect subconsciously. It's all about positioning and expectation management!

The key thing is to setup expectations, right from before they call, to the number they call, what they hear when they call, about the different levels of support, paid & free, how they can reach the right tier of support for their category, how they can upgrade their support tier, and how they can resolve their problem.

For instance, if you have a support forum + support FAQ, redirect all free callers to that --- AFTER telling them that free support is community supported, with customers just like them providing support.

If they want a specific type of support or customization, or installation support, then direct them to the relevant FREE instruction manual, and tell them that premium support for these is available for enterprise/business customers.

For callers make sure your IVR script takes into account both free and paid users [if you use the same 1800 number, you could also give toll-free numbers for premium support users, and toll numbers for free users].

Your script could be

1. Premium support users: Please enter your support id to be taken straight to our support team
2. If you do not have a support id:
                  Press 1 for free installation support options [list out website address, forum address, FAQ address, etc.].
                  Press 2 to buy premium installation support [[ Note the 'to buy' clearly setting their expectation ]]
                  Press 3 for free post-installation support options [list out website address, forum address, FAQ address, etc.].
                  Press 4 to buy premium annual support
                  Press 5 to reach sales

Wherever you list your number make sure it's listed as 'Premium Support Number' or 'Business Support' or something which will influence the caller to understand that this is not free support. For instance you may now have 'Toll-free support number' - which is misleading!

I guarantee if you do this right, you will have more satisfied users and potential customers!

If you want some consulting around this to help you implement this fully, drop me a note - I've been doing marketing/prodmgmt for an open-source based software vendor for a few years. [[ prasanna at wignite dot com ]]

Comment Mini-tables on tables.. (Score 1) 347

by univgeek (#41250897) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: What's Your Take On Stand-Up Desks?

You've got many choices.

1. Get an over bed table ala http://www.amazon.com/Invacare-Over-Bed-Table/dp/B000QA0EHI $49, you can adjust the height, upto 42" which should be within a few inches of what you need.

2. Use a bed tray on your normal table - ala http://www.standsandmounts.com/winsomewoodnaturalwoodbreakfasttraywithtiltingtop.aspx

3. Get a shelf with adjustable racks ala http://visualadventures.com/gear-review/how-to-make-an-adjustable-stand-up-desk-for-about-50

4. El cheapo option, wooden boxes, or piles of telephone directories, or piles of soft drink can crates.

Get a tall stool to sit in when you need a break from standing.
Businesses

When Smart People Make Bad Employees 491

Posted by samzenpus from the boss's-favorite dept.
theodp writes "Writing for Forbes, CS-grad-turned-big-time-VC Ben Horowitz gives three examples of how the smartest people in a company can also be the worst employees: 1. The Heretic, who convincingly builds a case that the company is hopeless and run by a bunch of morons; 2. The Flake, who is brilliant but totally unreliable; 3. The Jerk, who is so belligerent in his communication style that people just stop talking when he is in the room. So, can an employee who fits one of these poisonous descriptions, but nonetheless can make a massive positive contribution to a company, ever be tolerated? Quoting John Madden's take on Terrell Owens, Horowitz gives a cautious yes: 'If you hold the bus for everyone on the team, then you'll be so late that you'll miss the game, so you can't do that. The bus must leave on time. However, sometimes you'll have a player that's so good that you hold the bus for him, but only him.' Ever work with a person who's so good that he/she gets his/her own set of rules? Ever been that person yourself?"
Image

Swiss Bank Has 43-Page Dress Code 212

Posted by samzenpus from the dress-for-a-specific-success dept.
Tasha26 writes "The HR of Swiss bank UBS AG came up with an innovative 43-page document (French) to establish fashion 'dos' and 'don'ts' in their retail branches. Among the rules are such things as: 'neither sex should allow their underwear to appear,' perhaps Dilbert was a bit ahead of them on that. The document also mentions smells and 'avoid garlic and onion-based dishes.'"
Image

AMD Offers Women Geek Dating Advice 269

Posted by samzenpus from the power-of-love dept.
Blacklaw writes "It appears AMD has decided to branch out from integrated circuits and enter the romance market with a handy guide for girls to land themselves a geeky guy. From the article: 'In a blog post written by Leslie Sobon, the company's vice president of marketing, Sobon describes her life in the largely male-dominated world of technology as being "mostly surrounded by guys all day," but says: "I can tell you that — in general — technical guys are pretty cool," and offers advice on how girls can land a geek guy. Although clearly meant in a lighthearted way, Sobon's missive serves to patronize both her company's customers — who, we learn, are socially inept and bad dressers — and women, who apparently can't understand technology and need to find a nice man who can "fix the TV, your PC, and the sprinkler system" along with other magical item s far too complex for the poor female brain to comprehend.'"
Medicine

High Fructose Corn Syrup To Get a Makeover 646

Posted by samzenpus from the same-great-taste dept.
An anonymous reader writes "With its sweetener linked to obesity, some cancers and diabetes, the Corn Refiners Association (CRA) doesn't want you to think 'fructose' when you see high fructose corn syrup in your soda, ketchup or pickles. Instead, the AP reports, the CRA submitted an application to the FDA, hoping to change the name of their top-selling product to 'corn sugar.'"
Image

Woman Wins Libel Suit By Suing Wrong Website 323

Posted by samzenpus from the close-enough dept.
An anonymous reader writes "It appears that Cincinnati Bengals cheerleader Sarah Jones and her lawyer were so upset by a comment on the site TheDirty.com that they missed the 'y' at the end of the name. Instead, they sued the owner of TheDirt.com, whose owner didn't respond to the lawsuit. The end result was a judge awarding $11 million, in part because of the failure to respond. Now, both the owners of TheDirty.com and TheDirt.com are complaining that they're being wrongfully written about in the press — one for not having had any content about Sarah Jones but being told it needs to pay $11 million, and the other for having the content and having the press say it lost a lawsuit, even though no lawsuit was ever actually filed against it."
Space

15-Year-Old Student Discovers New Pulsar 103

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the sky-isn't-the-limit dept.
For the second time in as many years, a student has made a discovery while participating in the Pulsar Search Collaboratory (PSC), a joint program between the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and West Virginia University designed to get students and teachers involved in analyzing data from the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT). This time it was high school sophomore Shay Bloxton, who discovered a brand new pulsar. "For Bloxton, the pulsar discovery may be only her first in a scientific career. 'Participating in the PSC has definitely encouraged me to pursue my dream of being an astrophysicist,' she said, adding that she hopes to attend West Virginia University to study astrophysics. Late last year, another West Virginia student, from South Harrison High School, Lucas Bolyard, discovered a pulsar-like object called a rotating radio transient. His discovery also came through participation in the PSC."

Comment Mostly irrelevent replies... (Score 1) 834

by univgeek (#27906543) Attached to: Go For a Masters, Or Not?

Most of the replies are irrelevant as they address different fields. While an MS is less useful than work experience in many fields, that's not nearly as true in Elec Engg, or Comp Engg. or any math-heavy fields.

I've done my MS in the Elec. dept. If your MSCE is like CE at my school, then it's going to be a lot of Comp. Arch., VLSI, Solid State, Analog Elec., Signal Processing, etc. which you CANNOT learn on the job. My rule of thumb - heavier the math in a course, lower the probability that you can learn it on the job. Very few employers let you learn on the job - and math-heavy stuff is far easier to learn at school.

An MS is a minimum qualification to get into the mid-level of places like Qualcomm, Analog Devices, TI, Intel, AMD, etc. So my advice? Do an MS CE, make sure you do interns at every possible opportunity. Or if you're near a school which lets you do a part-time MS, start working, and start your MS too. Not doing an MS will get you stuck very soon!

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