We take word of mouth pretty seriously here at BzzAgent. But we take baseball and our Olde Town Team pretty seriously as well. Following is an email exchange between three BzzAgent Hive employees- Aaron Cohen, Jamie Gannon, and Andy Roebuck that took place during last night’s thrilling ALCS game 5 between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park in Boston MA. If you didn’t catch the game or the highlights, it might be helpful to have a general knowledge of the circumstances from the game to fully appreciate the back and forth below. In a nutshell,  the Red Sox were flat in the first 7 innings of the game, managing no runs while giving up a 7 spot to the Rays and it looked like the defending champs were going to end their season with a whimper. But they roared back and scored 8 runs in the final three innings off of an excellent reliever corps from Tampa Bay to win the game and force the continuation of the series in Florida Saturday night. (this win represents the second biggest postseason come from behind victory in MLB’s 100 year + history, by the way)

I’ve left in typos that were a result of temperatures in the high forties with a 20mph wind in my face as I typed on my blackberry with icy thumbs in the right field roof grandstand. I never knew what it was like to hug complete strangers at a sporting event- now I know. The Sox are back and we’ve got a series again- spread the word…

Andy Roebuck:: You gotta be kidding me…

Aaron Cohen: Right where we want them.

Jamie Gannon: Unbelievable.

Andy Roebuck:: Not gonna happen dude- you can feel it- the rays are destiny this year- just llike we were last year- it cant be our year every year…

Aaron Cohen: It’s going to get to be 7 or 8 nothing and the Sox are going to come roaring back only to fall short.

Jamie Gannon: Sad but true.

Andy Roebuck:: There is literally no energy here- none.

Jamie Gannon: Start the wave then Andy.

Andy Roebuck:: They need a coiuple of runs this inning-

Jamie Gannon: They just said that the Sox have never lost 3 in a row at Fenway in a playoff series. So I guess that means we are going to win?

Aaron Cohen: I read the other day someone said the Boston fans have the loudest audible “ohhhh” after something bad happens. You heard it after Varitek. The fans wanted that SO bad. 1 year $8M with an infinite vesting option is what I’d offer him, I think.

Andy Roebuck:: Kudos to the crowd- tek said that they need the help from the crowd tonight and thats why they stood up for him- and what does he do? Strike out. Last game for him in boston…

Aaron Cohen: Maybe if the game is over in the 8th they’ll let masterson hit some folks?

Andy Roebuck:: That was a bomb

Aaron Cohen: *$#!, now they’ve pulled us back in.

Andy Roebuck:: Utter madness…

Jamie Gannon: Unbelievable!!!!!!!!!

Andy Roebuck:: Madness- &$^@*!& coco out at second but we got to hold em here and get petey, papi and bay to win it. $#@*!, they cant lose now…

Jamie Gannon: Best at bat ever!

Aaron Cohen: Also, Coco cut his hair?

Jamie Gannon: Only the 3rd double play he has hit into all season – wow

Andy Roebuck:: We cant lose this game- i will just die

Aaron Cohen: The champagne is chilling!

Andy Roebuck:: Was that a misfire or intentional…

Aaron Cohen: Obviously!

HOOOOOOWWWWWEEEEELLLLL HOOOOOWWEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLL

Aaron Cohen: Does JD Drew have a pulse? It’s unclear from this interview. Did Sager just reject him?

Andy Roebuck:: Holy %&*@, guys. Beckett and lester for 6 and 7- this &#$% is not over.

Bedlam…

Jamie Gannon: Frame that ticket Andy. I still can’t believe that just happened.

After six seasons as captain of the BzzAgent Killer Bee’s soccer team, I am signing over my duties to MSB. It’s been a pleasure playing with you guys and we’ve had a great run, haven’t we? A few of the more memorable highlights to share with the world:

- Befriending other teams (and picking up Z) after a few rounds of drinks

- Invigorating the atmosphere of Brighton’s dive bars, and making friends with bikers

- Playing (one) game with Dave, in which he wore sunglasses the entire time

- Becks and Posh moments

- My graceful mud dive, thanks to the rough guy on the red team

- Chris…The League Tough Guy

- Rain outs, snow outs, no lights, no refs

- The ballet dancer form of McGlinn

- Playoffs in December – in sheets of rain

- The bizarre, ever-changing outfits of Toof

- 1,000’s of just-barely-missed shots on the 6′x6′ goal – seriously, 1,000’s…

Have a great fall season and beyond! Thank you BzzAgent for supporting the team all these years – one last game on Friday…GO BEES!

(What a tough looking crew?!)

Having worked with several entrepreneurs throughout my career, I’ve noticed precisely nine common traits that unite them together and distinguish them from the rest of us.  But what’s particularly interesting is this: just as these characteristics unify entrepreneurs into a discrete group, so too do they corral those who work for them into a community of their own.  You see, entrepreneurs inadvertently create a culture in which the staff that survive bond over the realization that it is not each of them that is crazy.

Enter Exhibit A: This post.  I wrote this post because our entrepreneur/leader constantly complains that too few blog posts are being submitted.  I decided to write minimal text, and instead let the image speak for itself.  After reviewing the post, our entrepreneur/leader informed me that “we” (another baffling entrepreneurial habit is to use plural pronouns when assigning tasks to an individual) need to add more text to make this post more about “the business” (code for “the entrepreneur,” himself?).  So that’s what I am doing.  And, in doing so, I have found myself reconsidering the image, itself.  Perhaps the size of the rearmost lobe (labeled “self-esteem,” which was polite for “ego”), should be, err, adjusted.

So what’s it like to work for an entrepreneur? It’s a never-ending exercise in dimestore psychology and a constant evaluation of one’s own sanity.  That’s what it’s like, every moment of every day.  But yet I have voluntarily worked for several, so maybe my next post should dissect the brain of the entrepreneur staff member?  That could be a more valuable exercise.

Anyway, I hope that was a sufficient amount of text.  Now let’s get back to the interesting stuff.  Alas, I present you, dear reader, with Pepe’s “Phrenology of the Entrepreneur.” Limitless thanks to Papa Bonus for his help with the image.

Annabel Leila Balter born July 8, 8 lbs. 8 oz. Mom and Dad are very proud, except for the typoes.

Yesterday, I picked up this voicemail left for me on July 4th.  The caller is trying to sell BzzAgent on his firm’s collection services (listen closely to his name dropping and you’ll hear him say ‘Bill Clinton’ as he trails off; Bill, I’m sure, is happy to be serving as a reference).

I have no interest in their services, but why let a great opportunity go to waste?  I sent this to our sales staff – because the guy pretty much writes the book on how NOT to sell people.  Here’s a quick list of the easy-to-catch mistakes:

1. He calls on July 4th, a day when all he can do is leave voicemail.
2. He actually leaves a voicemail.  Any salesperson worth their salt knows you never leave a voicemail (you can’t call back if it’s someone you know; and if it’s someone you don’t, you just pre-screened yourself)
3. He’s reading from a script (obviously)…
4. And he’s speedreading (which makes it clear I’m just ‘on the list’)
5. He sounds as if he’d rather be out lighting sparklers somewhere (personality and being a ‘real person’ is critical for a rep to start a relationship)
6. He name drops one of my venture investors without approval (that means he’s lowered my trust bar)
7. He doesn’t leave a website (in case I wanted to check them out) and my spam filter will likely catch his email
8. He is calling the wrong person.  I agree you should always start at the top, but CEOs at our stage of company will just delete this voicemail.  He should call the top of the finance department.

For those of you in sales, it’s worth giving a listen and picking up some pointers.  If you’re the guy who left the voicemail, thank you for helping educate my staff – and I hope you find a gig you really enjoy someday.

BzzAgent was featured on Good Morning America this morning, in a piece about great places for moms to get free products online.

In honor of all of the new BzzAgents signing up today, The Word of Mouth Manual: Volume II is available at Amazon for 70% off the cover price (just $13.50).  Back to the $45 list price tomorrow!  (Bonus: we’ll throw in a free copy of Grapevine, which was released in June in paperback).

It’s like Mother’s Day all over again.  Get the book, then go ahead and call your mom.  I’m sure she’d like to hear from you.

Starting June 16, download the entire book completely for free from any of these sites (note: the download version is not waterproof):

Or, buy the book (Rounded corners, water resistant and sized to use as a rainhat, plus – if you keep it in your breast pocket – thick enough to stop a bullet. Also, it just so happens that each copy arrives with bonus original, one-of-its-kind artwork):

The Word of Mouth Manual: Volume II, is set for release this Monday. More to come on that…

What’s with the Monkey on the Cover?

This.

In our process of consulting clients on BzzAgent and WOM we tend to sign contracts with companies that “Get It”. By that I mean, the companies understand their consumers are driving the success / failure of their business and they need to engage, listen and respond to their consumers needs/requests.

Because of the price point and scale of our programs, the majority of our clients are fortune 1000 companies who have larger media budgets. While we do have a online product (Frogpond) that caters to online clients at a price point that they are used to and delivers results that they can relate to. The industry we haven’t cracked is small business.

Small businesses survive heavily on WOM . This has always been an area of the market that we know we can help but haven’t been able to find a cost effective and successful way of supporting them to date. This is one of those things that keeps us up at night…

Even though we haven’t found a solution yet for the truly small, small businesses, I always enjoy seeing smart companies that know how to Engage, Listen and Respond to their consumers, regardless of their size. Recently I had lunch at a place close to the BzzAgent office called Flour. While waiting for my Chicken BLT and Creamy Tomato Soup with Tarragon, I noticed on the side of the wall a list of consumer comment cards and responses back from management. In some cases they were accommodating, in other cases they responded back as to why they weren’t able to accommodate. We have all filled out a comment card at one point in our lives, this is the first time I’ve actually seen a company display comment cards from their consumers both positive and negative. Small acts like this show consumers that the company is listening to them and cares about them. Its not a surprise that Flour is always packed.

Have you ever seen any examples of smaller companies that “get it” or what parts of our BzzCampaigns would be most beneficial if we were to build a small business offering? How could we help?

I was interested in this post by Kevin Kelly about FAQs because it relates to BzzAgent’s goals for transparency and because the benefits of transparency are something many companies are still ignoring.

“Most organizational FAQs are written by the marketing or PR arm. I think that is fine. It’s actually okay to have the marketing folks write the answers. After all, why not have the organization present its best case? There might be nuances and selling points that should be covered. The problem is that the same folks make up the questions.” [Emphasis mine]

Having Marketing folks write the questions for a FAQ is not trying to be help the customer, it’s trying to spin. There are times when a company CAN’T answer its most frequently asked question(s) (For instance, “ZOMG!!!1!11! Shaloha! WHEN?”) for valid reasons. For the most part, however, if a question comes up again and again about a specific product, the producer of that product should try to answer it somewhere on their website.

Why is it important to have good FAQs?

* It forces you to face the problem.
* It forces you to face your answer.
* It’s an opportunity to sell (yes).
* It projects your character and brand.
* You can control the answer…

I tried to find BzzAgent’s FAQ to see what types of questions we considered frequently asked and whether we did a good job of answering them. What I realized is that the majority of the front end of BzzAgent.com is all about answering questions and providing information about what we do and how we do it.

What do you think readers, do most companies do a good job answering your questions on their FAQ? Does BzzAgent?

What questions about what we’re doing do you have a hard time finding on the website [besides rewards!]?