I’ve been talking about needing a program like this for a long long time. Fortunately, Jesse Grosjean from HogBay Software developed it. It’s called Write Room — a writing program that harkens back to the days when you could just open Word Perfect on DOS, put your head down, type, and finish a project all in one sitting. Of course, back then the only distractions available were other mesmerizing DOS applications, generating silly ASCII drawings of Christmas trees, and wondering how it was possible to get all that a couple of megabytes onto a 5.25” floppy disc (at least I did).

Today, the distractions are too many and multiplying. Too many widgets, too many apps, too many icons. All filling our screens and cluttering our vision, begging for just a little attention, and then a little more.

Look! A Twitter update!

Is that Simon Cowell in a thong?! Hmmm… wonder if he’s got an ass double.

Squirrel!

Write Room obliterates these and any other distractions from your line of vision and lets you focus on the writing at hand. It’s dead simple to use and offers a few customization options. Sure, it’s not nearly as robust as Microsoft Word, but robustness isn’t the reason you’d use WriteRoom.

Simplicity is. And focus is. And finishing the damn piece you’ve been working on for five days is.

Write Room allows you to do one thing without distraction: write.

If you want to use Write Room, you’ll need a Mac running OS X 10.4 or later. There’s a 30 day free trial available, after which you’ll gladly pay $24.95 to continue using it. There’s even a handy dandy iPhone app available for $4.99 so you can create and edit documents on the go.

Happy writing. Well, at least happier writing.

Search on Google and you’ll note a big change in the results page about 1/3 of the way down: a scrolling list of results that appear just minutes and seconds after they’re posted online — and that includes results from Twitter (just note the post from “deckard256″ in the image above).

What does it mean to you a business owner? A company? A marketing department? There’s no longer any delay whatsoever between a customer’s experience and what the world will learn about that experience should it be posted anywhere online.

Of course, these scrolling results won’t be available if there isn’t a lot of online chatter about that term. But the more opinions, insights, emotions people share over time about their everyday lives, the more your chances of appearing there, or on Bing, or on Yahoo! or anywhere else online for that matter — immediately.

Technology’s leaps and bounds are prodding and nudging for companies to do what’s been prescribed for years: Be there. Be vigilant. Be responsive. (The thing is, now you’ll have to add quicker than ever to the mix, too.)

What do you think about Google gone real-time?

On November 5, I published this post about The Red Elephant’s Manager, Jeff Hanson, going out of his way to please a long-time customer (me).

The next day, at 11:30am, just moments before our Conversation Friday guests began arriving, Brandon (pictured at right) showed up at The Conversation Factory. He held out a brown bag, and said he was from Uptown Cafe. He said Fred Tedio had seen my post from the day before and wanted me to see how his Chicken Salad Wrap compared.

I laughed. Not only did Fred send the wrap, he posted a photo of the sandwich on my Facebook wall with the note:

Mike – Please enjoy our Uptown Cafe Chutney Chicken Salad Wrap. We’ve been making it from scratch for over 15 years and have many customers say it’s the best in town. You be the judge.

It was a good wrap, but I’m not here to judge food, I’m here to report on how Fred used social media to make something happen. He saw an opportunity on his Facebook news feed and took it.

What Fred did became part of our Conversation Friday discussion.

Three of us at the session tried the wrap, and agreed  it was tasty, but it wasn’t as important as the gesture itself (there’s certainly a lesson in that statement alone). I explained how I met Fred at the Tallahassee Chamber’s Annual Conference in August; how he prepared and delivered the sandwiches at our first Conversation Friday; and how I’ve become a fan of his smoked salmon with apricot glaze. I’m almost 100% sure that Fred Tedio and Uptown Cafe gained three new fans on Friday (and one blog post today). Although the wrap was very good, the gesture was infinitely more powerful.

All from seeing a post on Facebook, and responding in a timely and appropriate fashion.

Well done, Fred. Well done.

When I took my first bite, I chalked it off to kitchen having an off night — which is unheard of at The Red Elephant Pizza and Grill. When I returned three weeks later, the result was the same. Crestfallen, I asked our waitress if she wouldn’t mind getting the manager (my wife always loves when I do this).

It wasn’t 30 seconds before Jeff Hanson, General Manager (pictured above), appeared, introduced himself and asked how he could help us. Pushing back a tear, I asked what was up with the chicken salad?

Apparently, the original chicken salad recipe had been getting some disheartening reviews from customers. Now, it was gone. The tarragon and walnuts had been evicted, only to be replaced by grape halves. My chicken salad wrap had been transformed into something that no longer compared.

Noting my disappointment, Jeff quickly said, “Tell you what, next time you come in, call me fifteen minutes before and I’ll make it for you the old way.”

I heard angels sing, and an elephant trumpet. Jeff seemed to bask in a heavenly glow.

Over the next couple of months, I visited with my daughter and wife but didn’t bother asking Jeff to make good on his offer. After all, who wants be that annoying customer? (My wife, however, will tell you that I am, and she would love telling you this).

Last week, I went for it. I called ahead and spoke to the Manager, Jeri Render. I explained the “situation” and she said, hold on, let me get Jeff. She got back on the phone about three seconds later and said, “Jeff says come on over.”

Fifteen minutes later, I was sitting with my daughter, enjoying the original chicken salad wrap recipe our waitress, Trish, had brought over. It was perfect. Better than perfect, actually. It was made just for me, by the fearless leader of a fun-loving group of people who seem to always be going the extra mile.

The Red Elephant Pizza and Grill became our family’s go-to restaurant since we moved to the Northeast side of Tallahassee. When we’re in no mood to crank up the stove, our 3 year-old daughter stills get her grilled-cheese-and-fries, my wife her single serving pizza, and me, well, since there’s no more tarragon or walnuts, I go for the grilled mahi mahi. When you’re there, you can always count on the food being hot, the atmosphere being fun, the music being funky, and the staff being unforgettable.

I’m a fan. What about you?

I’ve been extremely fortunate over the last four Fridays. Everyone listed below (in no particular order) has shown up at The Conversation Factory — most more than once — with a willingness to share ideas and connect with other Tallahassee business people. I’d like to thank each and every one for their contributions to Conversation Friday.

1. Fred Addonizio, Brian Barnard’s Flooring America (who pitched in for sandwiches yesterday)
2. Jim Bennight, Brian Barnard’s Flooring America (who also pitched in for sandwiches yesterday)
3. Juli Puckett, Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce
4. Allie Merzer Fleming, Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce
5. Angela Hardiman Cole, Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce
6. Art Carlson, A Voice Beyond
7. Mark Ravenscraft, The Ravenscraft Group (who brought an assortment of veggies yesterday)
8. Lester Hutt, Bevshots
9. Frank Patterson, Dean/ Professor, FSU Film School
10. Kay Meyer, Kay Meyer Photography
11. Howard Libin, Adventures in Advertising (who always brings a trinket for everyone and wrote this article published in the Tallahassee Democrat)
12. David Hanselman, BrackenChase Builders
13. Rene Hanselman, BrackenChase Builders
14. Chris Des Marais, Mike Vasilinda Productions
15. Dave Fiore, DaveMail

Fifteen people. Not a hundred. Not a thousand. The whole experience makes me wish for a button to fan each of these people as individuals on facebook.

I also want to thank Fred Tedio from Uptown Cafe who, though not in attendance, sent lunch for our second session in exchange for a one-on-0ne session with yours truly (hopefully, I can compete with his turkey wraps; I already know I can’t compete with his smoked salmon in apricot glaze).

If you’d like to stop in for Conversation Friday, just let me know by leaving a comment or dropping a note on our facebook page.

Although I love Bank of America’s online chat service, the conversation you see below was a let-down (it was copied and pasted from my online chat window).

Live conversations with customers is a huge responsibility. The potential to do great things is only matched by the potential to do serious harm to your very own company and reputation. As you’ll see from the the example below, it only takes one brief online conversation for the damage to be done (and now it finds new life on this blog).

Just something to think about before putting people with little customer assistance experience and poor communications skills on a very outward-facing platform. This social media online thing that you may call a fad isn’t a game. It’s business, and we all have a lot to learn.

(No — Joe isn’t the representative’s actual name. I decided to “protect” his identity since it’s not his fault he was thrown into the online chat room. In cases like these, management is to blame, since it’s obvious he wasn’t properly trained — and, it seems, neither was the person looking over his shoulder telling him what to type.)

++++++++++++++++++++++++

Joe: How are you doing today?
You: Good thank you — I need to put a stop payment on a check.
You: It was made out to XXXXX
Joe: Sure, I will certainly check it for you and I will try my best to assist you.
You: I sent it via online payment
Joe: Okay.
Joe: Could you please provide me the last four digits of the account number?
You: XXXXX
Joe: Michael, I can see that you are not log in with your own ID.
You: i don’t understand. i’m logged in through my business account
Joe: I would request you to sign in using your own Online ID and we would be happy to assist you at that time.
You: i did — how else could i be here?
Joe: Okay.
Joe: So in this case I would request you to please call our business specialist.
Joe: Please excuse my inability to assist you in this regards as I solely with checking and savings accounts.
You: that’s what i want help with — a stop payment on a check
Joe: Alright.
Joe: Michael, we do not have necessary excess in business accounts, so I would request you to please call our specialist only they will be able to place an stop payment for business accounts.
Joe: Please be assured that we know your time is valuable to you and we would not  direct you to contact us by telephone unless were absolutely necessary.
You: what does “we do not have necessary excess in business accounts” mean?
You: nevermind — i’m outta here
Joe: I mean that this Chat service is for personal savings and checking account.
Joe: Please be assured that your concerns will be taken care of in the best possible way by our associates.
Joe: “Please call us at 1.888.287.4637 and we will be happy to assist you. We are available from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday – Friday 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday Eastern Time.
Joe: I thank you so much for your kind co-operation and understanding in this regards.

Last week at a conference I got a bag full of swag. It’s a business conference reality that would be more welcome if companies thought a little harder about what they’re putting their logo on. (Imagine thinking of something so cool, people don’t even consider it swag!)

Anyway, this one from Veolia Environmental Services put the frosting on the swag cake. It’s an energy saving light bulb made of foam.

I’ll repeat that: It’s an energy saving light bulb made of foam — from an environmental services company.

It does nothing but sit there with a logo, website, and phone number in tiny red print. Do you think it will emit a faint, muted glow if I screw it into a socket? It’s not an eraser, and I can’t give it to my dogs because they’ll rip it to shreds and eat it, causing further injury to the environment within hours. This thing is of absolutely no use. It would have been more environmentally conscious to give nothing at all.

I confess, however, that I may be speaking too soon. After all, their tagline is “turning waste into a resource.” Perhaps they’ve got a plan to turn this bad idea into a good one, but as far as I can tell, it’s just more landfill.

What do you think? Got any swag gripes? Love to read about ‘em.

Have a good one.

There was always fire in Laurel Blackburn’s eyes and belly (aka abs). Alongside the passion for fitness, however, there also existed a timidity for business. Lately, that timidity has turned into outright tenacity. A recent Facebook posts read like this: Signing 2 leases this week. One for our 5,000 sqft facility and 1 for a new location in Crawfordville. Life is good!

Laurel Blackburn’s BootCamps to Go is definitely a Tallahassee small business success story. A few years ago, she contacted me to help refresh her logo. She then hired me to create a brochure and business cards — the typical stuff a new business needs to get off its feet — or as Laurel would probably say, “get it off its ass.”

Truth be told, Laurel was a self-sufficient business person. She was never was someone to call me for every little thing she needed — or thought she needed. If she had questions about marketing, she’d call for advice; but most of the time, she was on her own, running her business with the same intensity that fueled her workouts.

She posted signs on the side of the road. She sent emails. She blogged. She posted testimonials. She shot and posted pictures and video. She printed shirts with headlines even seasoned copywriters would have a tough time coming up with. Most importantly, though, she connected with her customers on a human level. She asked what they wanted from their experience with her business, and she delivered on their requests. Dietician? Sure. Alternate workouts? Sure. Nutritionist? Of course!

How’d she do it all? Laurel understood her business, her brand, her tone of voice, and her customers (whom also became friends over time). Once any business understands those basics, executing tactics successfully comes much more easily.

Over time, she gained a following and earned people’s trust. Now, she’s opening in new locations during the toughest economic times we’ve seen. This is the new breed of business in our brave new world. Small, hungry, passionate, engaged, and unwilling to let anything stand in its path (I pity anyone that does).

Way to go, Laurel Blackburn, Mike Alvarez, and the entire BootCamps to Go team and fan base. Continue to kick ass and take names. Tallahassee is in better shape because of you.

Disclosure: As stated above, BootCamps to Go has been a client of transplant. I have also been a client of BootCamps to Go (though it may not show it). Neither myself nor my business is being compensated in any way for this post.

During a loud Tallahassee storm today, I decided to stop in at Ace Hardware in Killearn for a flashlight — you know, just in case the lightning struck just right.

Walking to the front door, I noticed the inside of the store was dark. It didn’t occur to me that just moments earlier, the lightning had struck just right at Ace. It looked as though they were closed, but I pulled handle anyway. The door swung open.

“Welcome to Ace!” came a woman’s voice from the register.

Honestly, it scared the crap out of me.

“Come on in. What do you need?”

“Actually, I need a flashlight.”

She laughed, and, almost as if on cue, out from the shadows came a man walking toward me with his own flashlight. He said, “Flashlights? Follow me.”

He led my to the back of the store and asked that I watch my step. The whole way, he pointed the flashlight right in front of my feet so I could actually watch each step. When we got to the flashlight display, he pointed here and there with the light, described some options, and recommended the black Mag-Lite over their own store brand. I said sure.

He grabbed the flashlight and a two-pack of C batteries: “You’re gonna need these too.” Then he pulled out a pad of paper and wrote down the stock number on both items. He led me back to the front of the store where he handed the woman behind the counter the ticket. She proceeded to write out an invoice — get this, with a pen! Knowing there was no power, I would have pulled out cash, but all I had was plastic. I handed her my debit card and she went to a drawer and pulled out the ancient shunk-shunk credit card imprint thingy.

She shunk-shunked the thingy, handed me my card, and I signed the receipt and left.

They never once mentioned the lights.

Refreshing to have an experience like this when the usual response would have been, “Sorry, sir. Can you come back later? Power’s out.” Had she said that to begin with, I would have accepted it and done just that. Now Ace Hardware has spoiled me.

Thanks to the gang at Ace Hardware Killearn. My flashlight’s ON — in your honor.

After a routine checkup, my regular dentist recommended I visit a periodontist — “the best” in Tallahassee — who could address my receding gum line, a procedure that shouldn’t be more than $1,000-$1,500.

After my visit a few weeks later, I was presented with an estimate of over $6,000. They pushed me to schedule before leaving the office. They offered me credit plan and “easy” payment options. But the real kicker came yesterday, when the periodontist’s receptionist left a voice mail offering me a “ten percent discount off the top” if I took advantage of one of the open time slots they had available next week.

I felt a little ill. I immediately thought of The Simpson’s discount medic, Dr. Nick Riviera.

Is this what it’s come down to? How does any medical practitioner think this is a good idea? On any level? Is this part of an overall marketing strategy? Why not offer a fair price to begin with? What’s next? Cash back if you bleed less on the ER floor? Group discounts if more than one person is injured at a time?

This is one area where I don’t want discounts. I want a fair price to begin with and an honest interaction from beginning to end. For a periodontist with very good ratings, I expected a little more thoughtfulness.