Got a Beef With That?!

Friday I enjoyed my favorite pizza for dinner. It had been so long since I ordered it, the owner of the business asked me if everything was OK. It was, of course, but with travel and other activities, I just hadn’t thought of having pizza. Anyway, Saturday was also a special treat. I made veal parmigiana. Using tenderized veal cutlets pounded to three-eighths of an inch thick, the dish was fantastic. I know most of you would rather head out to your favorite Italian restaurant, but homemade is best. There is more meat than breading and with my marinara sauce this is far more flavorful than most restaurants. I served it with a salad and fettuccini topped with more of the marinara sauce. Sunday, I grilled a Cornish game hen that had been marinated overnight with a salad for me and cheese fries for my wife. She finished the cheese fries while I ate my half of the Cornish game hen. I know that some of you do not eat veal so I am giving you two beef recipes this week. One is a Grilled Steak Marinated in Soy Sauce and Dijon Mustard. The second is the Veal Parmigiana. You can make one or both but with either you will have a great dish. Enjoy!

Customers Have a Beef with Netflix

Netflix’s market capitalization has dropped over $4 billion since it announced the separation of its DVD rental and streaming movie service. The stock price has fallen from $208 per share to $117. They lost 500,000 subscribers last month while Blockbuster gained 600,000. After insisting that the creation of Qwikster would benefit the company and its customers, today they decided it was not such a good idea after all.

There are several lessons to be learned from their mistakes. Companies cannot just make changes to their service without appreciating how their customers will be impacted. In addition to irritating their base by dramatically raising the cost of the service, Netflix also complicated things by requiring access and passwords to two websites. While the decision to create Qwikster, (more like Jokester), was good for the managing the business, it was terrible for customers.

Similarly, companies like Broadvox that offer hosted services need to reflect carefully on any changes that will impact the ease of use and habits of its customer base. Features should be migrated to new platforms as technology and services evolve. Price increases should reflect either an improvement in value or match inflation. Finally, offer real apologies, not the ingenuous, “If I offended anyone ..." You know you offended someone, so just say you are sorry.

As more services move into the cloud, there exists the risk that more companies will underestimate the impact of change on its customers. In which case, don’t be surprised when customers have a legitimate beef.

I am going on vacation Wednesday and so the next blog will not be until Friday. See you then.

David Byrd is vice president of marketing and sales for Broadvox, and is responsible for marketing and channel sales programs to SMBs, enterprises and carriers as well as defining the product offering. Prior to joining Broadvox, David was the vice president of Channels and Alliances for Eftia and Telcordia. As director of eBusiness Development with i2 Technologies, he developed major partnerships with many of the leaders in Internet eCommerce and supply chain management. As CEO of Planet Hollywood Online he was a pioneer in using early Internet technologies to build a branded entertainment and eCommerce website company partnered with Planet Hollywood. Having over 20 years of telecom sales and marketing experience, he has held executive positions with Hewlett-Packard, Sprint and Ericsson.