Rice's Riffs

So Much For Recession, U.S. GDP Grows in the 1st Quarter

Bill Rice — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 13:25:44 +0000

This could alter the next Federal Reserve interest rate move. The Commerce Department is reporting mild growth:

“The Commerce Department said on Wednesday that gross domestic product or GDP expanded at a 0.6 percent annual rate in the first quarter, matching the fourth quarter’s advance and handily topping a forecast for 0.2 percent growth in an advance poll of economists by Reuters.”

In addition, there are indication of shrinking housing inventories. All indications that recession talk may be more driven by perception and media versus consumer behavior. This is the tenuous tipping point, which could swing quickly for the good or the bad.
furniture Videnov
read more | digg story

ShareThis

LendingTree and the Tale of Two Crises

Bill Rice — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 16:13:01 +0000

Last week LendingTree had two crises.

Crisis 1

The first, was relatively small. A few former employees used their access to customer inquiries (leads), most likely for personal gain, to give unauthorized lenders access to LendingTree’s Lenders Network. Sure, I and a lot of other people can think of the worst possible ramifications of this incident. However, the true facts probably will reveal something far less dramatic–a couple of ex-employees trying to stick it to their old company and make a quick greed inspired buck. And, a few unscrupulous lenders willing to comprise their integrity and their business for free leads.

Crisis 2

The second, is possibly the more unfortunate and potentially damaging. They lacked a community of vocal and fanatical customers. This is certainly not unique to LendingTree, but rather is quite endemic of the lead generation, mortgage, and to a lesser degree real estate industry. Those of us within this business ecosystem should take note and endeavor to fix this before we inevitably encounter our own crisis.

The Solution

This is more a open thought and discussion piece since I won’t be so arrogant as to believe I have the answer, or could have in the heat of the incident performed better. However, I will be critical in the hopes of beginning a useful discussion. A discussion on building a community that will passionately assist a business they believe in, even during bad news.

Here are a few things that LendingTree has done very well, and has differentiated their business, but didn’t help in the current crisis:

Been dogmatic about creating the highest quality customer (borrower) experience
Building an “elite” cadre of lenders who actively collaborate to improve the lead network, customer experience, and lender experience
Creating a top-shelf consumer brand that remains etched in every homeowner in America

Here are a few things that LendingTree did not do well in adjusting to a new social marketplace:

Did not build a community of customer evangelist from their loyal customer base
Did not build a community of lender evangelist from their loyal lender base
Create, develop a community evangelist at LendingTree

Turning Customers into a Community

I think if LendingTree had evolved their “network” into a “social media community” this recent incident would have barely registered. Instead it would have, in a natural way, triggered the vocal opinions of an established loyal customer and lender community. Here are a couple of examples from one of these loyal lenders:

on Blog comments
on Twitter

Imagine if LendingTree’s thousands of customers and hundreds of lenders had all been engaged. What would have happened if LendingTree began the communication with the community and the affected customers together. The doom and gloomers would have been a faint whisper and the media would have tracked a very different meme.

Community Building Resources

If you think this is important to your company here are a few of my favorite resources:

It all starts here: Cluetrain Manifesto
Robert Scoble, aka Scobleizer. He was arguably one of the first to fill this undefined social media community builder, and executed it well for Microsoft
Jake McKee, did it for Legos
Chris Brogan, gives us an idea on what that social community builder position might look like

Is this important? How would you build and maintain a community?

ShareThis

Enjoy the Game

Bill Rice — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 10:05:27 +0000

This Sunday I was inspired by a sermon my pastor (Randy Wheeler, Twin Oaks ) gave–”Playing with Gratitude.” As he opened his sermon, he immediately changed the title to “Enjoy the Game,” which is the title I took for this post. Then he opened with a brief clip of Lou Gehrig’s farewell speech to his fans.

How often do we get wrapped into the “score” of the game and forget the enjoyment of playing it. I bet this is what was going through the mind of Lou Gehrig in his farewell speech when he said:

“Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about a bad break I got. Yet today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.”

Lou Gehrig was reminding us it was not about the score and the championships. It was about the people and doing something you love. I wrote once before about putting love in the game, based on Lou Holtz’s comment, “It is not about the love of the game, but the love in the game.”

Adversity will happen, it is what you do with the adversity that makes great things. As Randy said, “Focus your attention on what you have left, not on what you’ve lost.”

So, in hopes of you enjoying the game more I am leaving you with a few inspiring words from those who play with gratitude:

“Hard work and togetherness. They go hand in hand. You need the hard work because it’s such a tough atmosphere… to win week in and week out. You need togetherness because you don’t always win, and you gotta hang though together.” -Tony Dungy

“Show me someone who has done something worthwhile, and I’ll show you someone who has overcome adversity.” -Lou Holtz

“Courage doesn’t mean you don’t get afraid. Courage means you don’t let fear stop you.” -Bethany Hamilton (13 year old surfer and Shark attack survivor)

“I mean, God made me blind and didn’t give me the ability to walk. I mean, big deal. He gave me the talent to play piano and trumpet and all that good stuff.” -Patrick Henry Hughes (Blind, wheelchair bound musician)

Enjoy the game, whatever bounce the ball may take, and let the score take care of itself.

ShareThis

Jason Nation…bah humbug…We are the Kaleidicians!

Bill Rice — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:35:28 +0000

I guess you have arrived when members of your company are given a “nickname” by reporters–The Kaleidicians! I am not sure if this makes us a nation, a sports team, a gang, or a cult?

I do know that while the Jason Nation is out thinking up logos we are quitely gaining underground strength.

Follow me and the other Twitter enabled Kaleidicians:

ShareThis

Growing Appreciation for Simplicity, Brevity, and Clarity

Bill Rice — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:23:05 +0000

Maybe my increased use of Twitter or the more hectic my life continues to become has contributed to this affinity for tightly packed, well thought out, communication.

Examples:

Stowe Boyd, /Message, TwitPitch Me!
Pecha Kucha via Business of Software by Joel on Software

Brief me: http://twitter.com/billrice

ShareThis

Contact Management for Twitter

Bill Rice — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 13:17:13 +0000

No more excuses for not staying in contact with friends, family, and business contact. Now you can have social contact management that works seamlessly with your existing Twitter.

Here is the idea and what to do:

Get Twitter or have Twitter, who doesn’t have Twitter yet?
Follow salestwit
Sign-up for a “closed” beta invite at www.salestwit.com
When you get your invite sign-up at http://salestwit.com/twitup.php using your invite code
Once signed in load your contacts from gmail, yahoo!, outlook, apple mail, or any other address book
Set the interval you want to contact folks in the settings link
Wait for you first twit from your address book, and surprise you first long lost friend or business contact

If you like it share your invite code, talk about it, and give us feedback for the future.

ShareThis

Twitter Updates for 2008-04-14

Bill Rice — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 04:59:59 +0000

How much richer would your relationships/business be if randomly, for no reason, you call or email just one person in your contacts? Now. #

ShareThis

Call Someone Today for No Good Reason

Bill Rice — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 14:09:06 +0000

Reach into your address book today, pick a random person, and call or email them. Your life, and maybe even your business, will be richer for it.

Inspired by @andrewbadera, on Twitter:

ShareThis

Twitter Updates for 2008-04-13

Bill Rice — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 04:59:59 +0000

@keithburwell hoth is the planet, at-at is the creature that Han Solo slices open & turns into a wiggle, slimey, warmer for frozen Skywalker #
@keithburwell The Star Wars space opera should continue… #

ShareThis

Twitter Updates for 2008-04-11

Bill Rice — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 04:59:59 +0000

Finding inspiration by considering who inspires you: http://snurl.com/24487 @chrisbrogan thanks for introducing me to @jnswanson #
Who Inspires you? Question inspired by @chrisbrogan http://snurl.com/24487 #
@Rolet must be in marketing? sales folks have three drink breakfasts to get ready for the weekend #

ShareThis