We've "scene" it all--The SceneExchange Blog

Stay Safe on New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve is one of the worst days of the year for traffic accidents.  the NIAAA and NHTSA state that there are four times as many auto alcohol-related accidents on New Year's Eve than any other mid-week day of the year.  So how can you stay safe and celebrate the arrival of the new year?  Here are some tips to keep you safe as you ring in 2009.

Get a free (or cheap) ride home: Many cities have free taxi services or penny rides on mass transit on New Year's Eve, including New York, Chicago, D.C. - even Topeka.  Search "free rides on New Year's Eve" in your search engine, and find out how to get a free ride home before you go out, just in case you celebrate a bit too enthusiastically. 

Celebrate with the family and help your local community: First Night is a nation-wide event that celebrates your city's local arts and culture, and helps raise money for local charities.  Even if it's cold where you are, many of the events are indoors.  Check out First Night Boston, Salt Lake City, and Austin, or type "first night" in your search engine for the celebration near you.

Stay home: Of course, the safest way to stay off the streets is to stay home.  Have neighbors over, drink some bubbly, play games, and watch the ball drop with Dick Clark.  We have the neighbors and their kids over every year, and we have a great time, and no one drives. 

However you decide to ring in the new year, we wish you a safe and happy 2009.

-- Chrisa

Update: The New Truck!

I blogged a few weeks ago about my family's debate over buying a new truck - one with 4-wheel drive to get us through the rough Chicago winters. 

Well, we bit the bullet, and did it, December 26th.  Here it is:

 

It's a 2005 Certified Used Ford F-150 FX4 CrewCab, and we couldn't be happier.  It took a lot of research, but we got a great deal, and REALLY good financing from Ford Motor Credit. 

I wanted to share some kudos and some razzies to the different websites and experiences we had while we researched what to buy.  We did hours of research online before we ever left the house, and it paid off in the end.

Kudos:

• Autotrader.  A great site to research both new, used, and certified used vehicles from dealers and private parties.  It's easy to use, allows for a lot of search options to narrow down the search, and great speed and flexibility - I could research cars and email them to Tom or save them on a list to review later. 
• Chevrolet.  True, we didn't buy a Chevy, but we did research both new and used trucks.  Chevy's website lets you search local dealer inventory, view the window sticker, and get their red tag pricing right on the corporate site, without having to enter all your contact information first.  The last thing we wanted was a lot of phone calls.
• CarMax.  Another great site to research the cars on all the CarMax lots in the country, that has flexible search criteria, lets you search for new, used, or both, and shows you the cars you're interested in with good pictures and lots of detail.

Razzies.

• Cars.com.  SLOW.  Have to search for new and used and certified used cars separate.  I got frustrated with this site and gave up.
• Several local dealership sites.  They loved to send me email - I couldn't see inventory without entering my email - but one put us on hold for over five minutes on the three times we called (we hung up), or another, when we got through, said they'd call us "right back" - and we're still waiting, days later.

It's definitely a good time to buy a car, if you're considering it.  And now that GMAC has gotten a bailout, credit should be freeing up a bit for GM vehicles.  Happy hunting.

-- Chrisa

Insurers at Bottom of Consumer Experience Index

If you are a consumer dealing with insurance carriers or TV service providers, chances are you are very unhappy.

According to Forrester Research Inc's Customer Experience Index, 38% of firms were rated "poor" or "very poor" based on usefulness, ease-of-use and enjoyability. (This survey included responses from over 4,500 consumers)

So, what's going on here? Every firm's executive team will say something along the lines of "customer experience is crucial to competitiveness", but the reality shows they often fall short. How can firms address this gap during rough economic times? Nobody wants to start losing customers they have spent money to acquire.

Forrester has several recommendations for companies who want to keep their customer experience momentum going:

• Prioritizing the moments of truth that occur during customer interactions because they have the biggest impact on overall satisfaction, likelihood to repurchase and likelihood to recommend
• Seeking usability improvements to key customer touch points, such as Web sites, service emails and interactive voice response systems
• Increasing communication with employees to keep them apprised of any shifts in priorities, and engaged with overall customer experience efforts

This is good advice for the current turbulent times--what will your firm be doing to keep your customers?

--Beth

PS. The firm at the top of the Customer Experience List? Barnes and Noble.

My gift to you--randomly generated car wallpaper

In honor of those of us working today, a quick little bit of fun for your desktop.

GetCarWallpapers.com--A site that displays a different picture from their huge gallery of car wallpapers each time you click. Enjoy a random image from the gallery of 10,000+ unique wallpapers.

My favorite so far is this one, a Lamborghini Murcielago Spyder 2009

--Beth

Assessing Aging Driver's Skills

We all know at least one person who is over 70 (or 75 or 80!) with a driver's license, and the thought of them driving makes us cringe. Driving represents freedom to many of us--taking that privilege away is scary. With the baby boomers coming up on the age of 65, drivers in this age range are expected to increase by 25% in the next 10 years. Besides teenage drivers (which we have already talked about quite a bit in previous blog posts), drivers over 65 have the higher accident and fatality rates than any other age group. But, just because someone is over 65 does not necessarily mean that they are no longer a good driver. So how do we assess who should be driving and who should not?

Ford is working with the Traffic Improvement Association (TIA) to assist older drivers with evaluating their driving skills. They offered 38 workshops in hospitals and senior centers in Michigan in 2008. These workshops include both a classroom portion and an on-the-road evaluation. The classroom portion educates the attendees on the effects of aging on reflexes and cognitive skills. It also teaches them compensation skills for the diminished abilities that come with aging, as well as defensive driving techniques. The on-the-road evaluation is given by AAA-certified instructors and the students are evaluated in their own vehicles. This gives the driver the ability to assess themselves to gauge their skills and see where they may need to improve. It is also anonymous, which I am sure helps to increase participation.

Ford has taken this information and produced more safety features in their vehicles. In 2009, they will be launching new Blind Spot Mirrors, Collision Warning with Brake Support forward collision warning technology and BLIS (Blind Spot Information System) with cross-traffic alert. 

For more information on this collaboration between Ford and the TIA, click here. If you live outside of Michigan and you are interested in a driver screening for yourself or a family member, search online for 'aging driver screening' and you will find a host of information. Many states have this information right on their websites.

--Shanna

Every wonder what Hank Greenburg really thinks? His mission to save AIG.

Here's a link to a very interesting interview from AM Best.

This is their overview of what's covered. Its worth the time to listen or read the interview.

Former AIG head Maurice R. "Hank" Greenberg doesn’t think much of the government’s original bailout; worries about his former employees but believes there's still a glimmer of hope. BestWeek’s David Dankwa interviews.

Post back and let me know what you think.

--Beth

Local Shop Association Takes Anti-Steering to the Airwaves

The Pennsylvania Collision Trade Guild had produced a radio spot to let consumers know about their right to choice when it comes to picking a collision repair shop. 

Give a listen to the 60 second ad, and let me know what you think about it.

-- Chrisa

Does it Matter How Much We Loan Detroit, if No One Will Loan to Me?

So, my husband Tom and I sat at the kitchen table last night, debating selling our two-wheel-drive 2002 Ford F-150 crew cab for a new (or newer) four-wheel-drive pickup.  We've been in Chicagoland (home of Blago the Narcissist) for 4 years, and we are tired of slipping and sliding all over the road in the winter.  And, if we sell or trade in the truck for a 4X4, it has to be a truck big enough to tow our boat and haul our family of five.  As we debated the merits of a new truck, he said something I thought I'd never hear him say.

"What brand?" he asked.  I almost fell over.

You see, Tom is a Ford guy.  Always has been, and, I thought, always would be.  But, it turns out, he's pretty much given up hope of The Big Three ever making it out of their current predicament.  He's been watching CNN and C-SPAN on and off for several weeks, watching the testimony of the auto CEO's on Capitol Hill, listening to the pundits berate them for flying to D.C. in their private jets, and watching the prospects of help from Congress dwindle away. 

But I had to press him on it.  I couldn't believe he'd consider anything other than a Ford truck.  "Why not a Ford?" I answered.  "We can probably get an amazing deal on a Ford right now." 

"Yeah," he answered, "But what if Ford goes away?  Who'd service it?  How would I get parts?  What about the warranty?  But besides that - where will we get a loan?"

This, my friends, is the crux of the issue.  No matter what the Automakers did to get themselves into this predicament - and the opinons vary, read them here and here and here - they will never be able to get out of it if Americans won't buy their cars.  And I fear $15 billion to them and no rethinking of how to spend the $700 billion on the credit crisis won't help the matter.  If Americans can't get credit, they can't buy cars, no matter how much the Government loans to Ford, GM and Chrysler. 

So, we're still debating, and I'm researching available loans.  In the meantime, Tom has four or five bags of salt in the bed of his truck, hoping the extra weight over the back tires will help his traction.  I hope that works for another winter.

-- Chrisa

'Tis the Season....to Get Laid Off

I make it a habit to take December 23rd off every year.  It's not my birthday, or a day to celebrate - quite the opposite.  During the dot-com boom-to-bust, I was laid off on December 23rd two years in a row. 

It happens a lot this time of year - the calendar year is over, the fiscal year is either half gone or ending as well, and next year's budget has been crunched.  It sucks, but there is there really ever a good time to perform layoffs - or get laid off?

No matter the size of your company, layoffs are hard on everyone - both those let go, and those left behind.  Guy Kawasaki has some good advice on how to lay people off the best way possible.  Some highlights:

Cut once: don't cut the bare minimum, hoping for a miracle or quick turn-around.  Nothing kills the morale of those left - and chases off quality employees - like the death of a thousand cuts.

Clean house: lay off for quality, not just quantity.  A good performer who may not be in the perfect position is worth more than a marginal performer in nearly any position.

Share the pain: If you're the boss, take a pay cut.  Forego your bonus.  Don't be like that idiot at Merrill Lynch that thought he deserved a $10 million bonus for driving the company into the ground.

Oh - and by the way - I'm breaking my tradition this year.  I'll be in the office on December 23rd, because we're not laying off - we're hiring!

-- Chrisa

When online and offline worlds collide and make your company look stupid

In honor of the holidays, I thought I would share my recent adventure trying to buy a jumper seat as a gift for my infant daughter.

Since I'm a cyber-addict, I did my research, found the perfect model, and decided to purchase it via Wal-mart's online site at a price of $64 dollars.

Then, I decided to just go to the store instead to pick it up (to save on shipping). At the store the price was $80! I asked a clerk about the discrepancy, and he said that the prices were usually different. However, I could order it online and have it shipped to the store for the $64. Help me understand: I have the product in hand, but it is cheaper for Wal-mart to ship me different one (what about gas, guys?) than just give me the same price as online and send me out the door?

So, muttering to myself, I went home and went online to place my order. The online price one day later was $76 dollars. Now I was really mad for obvious reasons. Needless to say, Wal-mart didn't get my business and I found a used one on Craigslist for half the price. But this got me thinking about how the web impacts customer expectations.

Bridge Your Gap

In today's market, consumers are having their expectation of bricks and mortar retail shaped by online interactions. People are becoming used to:

• Speed
• Convenience
• Control

The ways that they shop online impact their offline expectations. Barnes & Noble is one example where you can walk into a physical store and use a kiosk to search inventory, locate items, and order anything that is out-of-stock. You don't need to hunt the stacks unless you want to do so. The online and in store experiences and prices are linked together.

It is imperative that your online and offline experiences and policies line up--otherwise you have a confused customer, a lost sale, and an unflattering blog post to deal with.

Anyone else have a story like this?

--Beth