How often do you need to know?

The amount of time it takes for a given situation to spiral out of control varies enormously, so you’ll need to take your own lead on it. But the general guideline is half of that. If an hour of negative comments on your Facebook wall will hurt your brand you need to know within half an hour if things go wrong. If you manage a team who’s work output for a day controls your success, you probably don’t want to wait an entire day to know how productive they are.

Ultimately the difference between a problem and a crisis is time, and how often you can get the relevant information decides which of the two you are going to face. The greatest leaders and managers I’ve ever worked with had one thing in common they never seemed to be surprised by things. The poorest? They were often blindsided by news, changes and problems. The difference is how often they knew what was going on. And a large part of that is knowing what to know. Cut things down to the relevant information and you have more value, more time, more control. I’ve been amazed many times by leaders of business, managers, team leaders and even reporting and analytics experts who learn things from reports, charts and spreadsheets while discussing them. I’ve seen people ask questions about the last quarter that they needed to know in the middle of it, and I’ve seen call centre managers blindsided by their own divisions performance the previous day failing to achieve targets.

Let’s step through a simple example.
We have XYZ Social media monitoring that you are using to monitor discussion of our brand XYZ Plumbing.

• We can stream in relevant news, mentions, competitors info and negative remarks, look through them watch, and respond to anything we notice.
  We won’t see everything though, and as news streams in we’re constantly going to fall further behind
• Alternatively we could monitor specific keywords for us and some for negative sentiment. Real time dashboards to show content volumes in the last 30 mins and over time, and a small sample of up to date content for live review.

Ultimately we’d have just as much control and information, but it keeps us real time, more up to date, and time is the only thing that matters.
Have a step through your working KPI’s and day to day goals. How often do you have the information you need to make those decisions?

How often do you know, the things you really need to know?

How often do you need to know?

Facts and figures reign supreme in the information age. The more information you can lay hands on the better you can do. But we need to be able to let go of the facts and be more fluid. There’s a lot of things we “know” when we need to “feel”. There are tools built by third parties we use for stats and monitoring,  we have communities filled with thousands of customers, staff who work for us, and through all of this we maintain assumptions and status quo.

With so many variables and things beyond our control, we need to make time to not know. To take our facts and re evaluate them.
For everything you know as a fact on your own, it could be changed.  Does a page view still mean a page view? What happens if I refresh? Force refresh? Switch from a mobile view to a full one?
What about our Communities? How do they react to a specific post or type of? Has a new leader appeared in their midst? Has a topic started and pushed a new word/phrase into the vernacular?

It’s easy to fall into habits, and auto pilot makes it faster to get things done, but making a deliberate effort from time to time to pull things apart, to push yourself back into a place of ignorance and learn something all over again will ultimately mean you have the chance to get it right, and keep it that way.

The goal isn’t to start back at the drawing board literally every time, just a regular check in on key things you need to know to make sure you know what you think you know. I’d suggest keeping up with vendor documentation on tools as they update, conversations with support staff around specifics of facts and what they really mean.  And if you think it won’t happen to you? Here’s a few of the blunders I’ve seen from things people “know”.

• Million dollar staffing decisions based on call volumes that did not include calls where the customer hung up first.
• Positive sentiment dropping by 40% overnight due to defaulting to neutral and it subsequently being removed from the equation.

Simple things that someone knew. But the mechanics behind them had changed.
The incredible value in the end more than outweighs the time cost to know in the first place.

This week choose something you know. And find out just how much you still know.

For years we’ve thrown this statement at one another, refused and denied it. Yelled it from the rooftops and raged at every manager, CEO and executive who used it as a battlecry to please the masses. But we’ve all been wrong. Everyone who used it, did so incorrectly. And all of us who rejected it were wrong. The reality is the customer is always right, but not in the way that people think.

Perception

The customer is right because their complaint is theirs.Not yours. It could be your product and service. But the complaint, the issue the customer wants to raise is entirely theirs and they can’t possibly be wrong about it. Whether the customer believes they purchased a product for exclusive use of a feature that doesn’t exist, or a salesperson told them something that would never have been said is irrelevant. The situation as it stands is about that feature, or that statement being made.

Taking the right approach is paramount. And the approach covers what you do and think, not just what you say.
From the first interaction, those first words you utter or type it will be apparent to the customer (and in social anyone else reading it) just how you see it. And let’s be clear. You are the company.

Customer Service

It comes down to customer service. Good customer service has nothing to do with the outcome. Giving someone what they want isn’t good service. Someone’s experience dictates how good the service they received was, and thats where our approach makes all the difference. If a customer comes to you with a complaint that they purchased product X and it didnt have Y feature. You can resolve it the situation with another product or a refund, which could be much worse customer service than a discussion and explanation.

If the customer is wrong? They’ve asked for a feature the product doesn’t have, and now believe it should. You tell them they are wrong, the feature doesn’t exist, they can’t have been offered it, can’t have seen it. Refund them or refuse. Either option is incredibly poor service. The customer, and anyone else seeing or hearing the interaction has a clear indication of how you’ll approach things.

If the customer is right? They’ve asked for a feature the product doesn’t have and now believe it should. You ask them how they thought it was included, that the feature doesn’t exist. Find out how they’ve been offered it, address that. Did they ask? Not ask? Do they want to perform a specific task that they either don’t need to do? Or is there an alternative? Refund them or not. Either option is great customer service. This time the customer or anyone else seeing it knows how you approach things.

Who’s side of the fence?

The customer being right is based on their perception not yours. The things you needed to do, but didn’t. The things you said without saying them. The information the customer told you without telling you anything.
Let’s step through our example. Customer approaches a store to buy a new tv. During the conversation the customer points out that his wife loves videogames, plays the new ones, the old ones, all of them. Picks out a tv and keeps bringing it up. This plays videogames right? Of course it does, it’s a tv. Just a picture. You pick the right tv, make the sale and send them home.

24 hours later, an irate customer returns to the store. The TV is useless. Their video games don’t work. Turns out the customers wife plays old video games. 25 year old video games with coax connecters and low res tv signals. This HD flatscreen doesn’t support either of those. And the ones without cables? They play via an old computer plugged into the tv. The new flatscreen doesn’t have a VGA input either. None of this is going to work.

We can tell the customer they wont be supported. None of the TV’s here will support that. Coax is a thing of the past except for antenna inputs and those are locked. How could you have known they wanted that, they never told you. It’s not an option. It doesn’t do what you want, so we’ll refund it. Even though you never told us you needed this old technology.

But they did tell you. They stated outright what they wanted to do. The details don’t matter.
The customers side of the fence? I need to play my 25 year old video games of X, Y and Z on this TV. They plug right into the TV I already have. A newer tv will add more features. So this will work plus more.
Your side of the fence? I need to play video games on my tv. Everyone plays video games. Just like the ones you sell here.
Now you shouldn’t have asked more. At no point am I suggesting you complicate a simple sales process by asking every customer if the object they want to connect is a 25 yr old video game. But you can ask now.

How often do you play these? How important is it? Did you know none of these tv’s can do that anymore? But there are other options available for you… You can buy X to do that now, we can order that for you. This is a quick look at how this technology works and how those did.  We’ve overlooked it because of X, but we can do Y or refund and move on.

This could mean extra sale of the other device. It could still mean a refund, but the customer has a very different experience. Whether they decide to stay with you or not, they know more. They know ever so little about the technology they use and will use that for future purchases. Tiny differences in detail. Who cares about frequency and resolution and how it tied together. The simple thing the customer needs to know? That their video games connect in a way that some TV’s dont support. And that’s enough to not make this mistake again.

The approach and the outcome are incredibly different. Even with the same result.

The customer is always right. Sometimes we need to know just what it is they’re right about.

As a webmaster(and in many cases) a web designer, you have a responsibility to your site users. In regards to their privacy and information.
The 3 main areas of this are Disclosure, Security, Legality.

Disclosure
Simply put, tell people what you are doing with their information. Simply, this can be done with a privacy policy. Any business that collects personal information has an obligation to disclose what information they maintain or gather and how it is stored and shared with who.
This applies to many web designers using systems such as pre-built shopping carts and blogging or cms systems.
Many shopping carts automatically store a users details when a purchase is made.
For many people this would include shipping details, contact numbers. My personal address.
A single purchased book or painting, or swimsuit does not give you the automatic right to store someone’s details indefinitely. Or to use them to sell to others or to contact them again.

A sample privacy policy is written below, this is one I have written for a client previously. It covers some basic points including the capture of their information and that some of this information may be personally identifying. It also references web traffic, which will for many of you reside on a server outside of Australia. On a cheap hosting package overseas, is your customers’ data secure?

Privacy Policy
<BUSINESS NAME>, like other companies operating in Australia, is bound by the National Privacy Principles as set out in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Act 2000 Our collection, use and disclosure of personal information is set out below:

What Information does <BUSINESS NAME> Collect:

<BUSINESS NAME> collects two types of information from you.

Personally identifiable information supplied by you during a purchase, this includes but is not limited to your name, address, telephone number, email address, size purchased, gender etc.
This information is never sold, offered or shared with any third parties. <BUSINESS NAME> uses this information in order to provide a sales service to you. It may also use this information to contact you in regards to limited offers, promotions and specials, you may contact us to opt out of receiving further contact regarding these promotions.

Non Personally Identifiable information gathered from our website, this includes but is not limited to pages visited, duration of stay, search terms and URI referalls and destinations.
This information is gathered and collected in order to maintain the website. This information is never given out, shared or sold to any third parties and remains the property of <BUSINESS NAME> and it’s partners.

Your information will be used by us in order to provide you with the service. It will also be used by us in any method which you would reasonably expect us to use your information, including but not limited to contacting you regarding your purchase, authorising returns, future purchases or discounts.

We will not use your information for any purpose other than the above unless we have your prior permission to do so or there are specified reasons relating to law and order or public safety.

We will take reasonable steps to ensure the safety of all information collected, ensuring limited access to our data and servers.
At any time you may contact us to request a copy of the information we have regarding you, sufficient proof of your identity will be required.

Contact Us
You may contact us via this website at any time, <BUSINESS NAME> is an Australian Business and only available during normal Australian business hours.

There is an obvious need to edit out and replace the <BUSINESS NAME>. Again, this is not provided by a lawyer, but it is a cursory Privacy Policy and is a reasonable starting point.

Security
Security is very important. This is your customers’ personal data and you have responsibilities to protect it.
This extends beyond the obvious. https security for payment details, secure password requirements, captcha based logins, traffic monitoring, password expiry.
Physical limited access to your server and data.
Have you considered the consequences of having your personal computer stolen? Do you save your passwords and logins for websites, including your webhost?
Could these saved logins be used to copy your entire customer database in minutes?
Conscious security steps you can and should take with your website. And this goes for clients as well as designers.

1. Check for updates to any pre-built systems you use.
   You need to ensure security patches and fixes are applied as often as possible.
2. Only store relevant data. If you are offering a postal service, consider only keeping details until dispatches are done.
3. Secure your own passwords. Do not save passwords in your browser and use strong passwords (combinations of letters, numbers and punctuation)
4. Implement a Captcha based login to prevent automated dictionary attacks to enter your system.
5. Change passwords and limit access only to those who need it. Has your designer finished building your website? Change the password.
6. Check your webhosts control panel. Disable any excess user accounts, disable features such as “Remote mySQL”, do not create files with the CHMOD 777.
7. Ask your web designer/developer questions about SQL injection, input cleaning, .htaccess and https security, mod_rewrite, Register_Globals.
   Specifically if your website uses any PHP your designer should be able to answer these and explain how they are being used or prevented to protect your and your customers’ data.

These are not complete, but these tips will help keep you from doing anything completely dangerous and potentially stupid with yours or your clients data. Keeping in mind, that privacy breaches in Australia can result in fines, jail time or litigation.

Legality
You have legal obligations to protect and preserve peoples information. This includes supplying all information upon request and acknowledging requests to be removed from mailing lists etc.
Some points to consider that you may need to prepare for.

1. Are you able to supply a privacy profile? This is a detailed account of all information you hold on someone. Invoices, web logs, user accounts and other information.
2. Are you able to respond to requests for no further contact? If your business does not require an ongoing relationship you could be breaking the law by contacting someone who no longer wishes to hear from you. Selling a book to someone 12 years ago does not mean you may contact them monthly about your new book.
3. Do you use opt in conditions for mailing lists? Are people able to unsubscribe?

There is a lot more that needs to be read and I strongly advise discussing this with your lawyer, business mentor or other informed representative.

Links
Federal Privacy Act
Commonwealth Privacy Act (direct link)
Australian Privacy Foundation

Well you do, but you don’t need to say “INNER JOIN”

MySQL uses a dot syntax which makes our code so much easier.

Our example uses 3 tables with several columns each. A table of users, a table of DVD’s and a table showing who has borrowed what and when.

Users: id,Name
DVD: id, Title, genre
loans: id,owner,Title,Date

So we have entries in all of these tables. And we want to retrieve a list of all of the loans.
We use the name of the table a DOT and the name of the column.
eg Users.Name will give us the Name value from the Users table.

The full query is

Select table.column from tables where table.column = table.column

Select (all the fields we want) from ( list the tables here) where (list what equals what)

Select Users.Name, DVD.Title, loans.Date from Users,DVD,Loans where loans.owner=Users.id, loans.Title=DVD.id

The great part about this is, we only “select” the fields we want and can specify the criteria any other way we like. As long as you include all the tables involved, it will just work.
These can get LONG and detailed, but without having to worry about “Inner Join THIS on THAT” we can use it easily. Here’s a real world example for a business who tracks internal device loans for quality testing.
4 tables and 10 columns.
You should be able to piece together their original table structure without too much trouble.

SELECT PSTT_trans.notes as out_notes, PSTT_users.name as username, PSTT_users.id as staff_number, PSTT_equip.id as equipment, PSTT_equip.name, PSTT_trans.id as transid, PSTT_trans.trackid as trackid, PSTT_trans.timestamp as out_time, PSTT_trans.owner_id as the_owner, PSTT_track.open as opentime
from
PSTT_trans,PSTT_track,PSTT_equip,PSTT_users
WHERE
PSTT_trans.equip_id = PSTT_equip.id AND PSTT_trans.owner_id = PSTT_users.id AND PSTT_trans.trackid = PSTT_track.id and PSTT_track.close is null and PSTT_trans.returned is null and PSTT_trans.direction = ‘out’

Google for a 301 redirect for non-www