I’ve been using the super speedy CDex lately to rip my CDs into MP3 format lately. It’s quite a bit faster than Exact Audio Copy which is great for CDs that are not in good condition. If you’re looking to rip a new CD, give CDex a try.

Maybe occasionally I’ll post about something I learned. Could be something life-changing. But probably not. Most will be totally random and likely insignificant for most. But even the small stuff adds up.

So here’s what I learned today while watching two friend participate in co-ed flag football game:

**Put your quickest, most agile player on QB rush duties. This person doesn’t have to be tall. A women sometimes works best because the QB may underestimate her quickness. With all the time in the world, any decent QB will find the open receiver. And if he doesn’t, he’ll run for 10 yards before anyone can reach him. A relentless rush can force the QB into a hurried toss and keep him from advancing up field**

That’s what I learned today.

I need a bigger wallet to hold all the “rewards” and “preferred customer” cards that have been multiplying like crazy. Are we getting to the point where every business will eventually have their own rewards card? It sure feels like it.

What we need is the ULTIMATE REWARDS card. It would give the carrier all the points, discounts and rewards found on the individual reward cards.

It’s become embarrassing lately. Two days ago I swiped my Fred Meyer rewards card at Albertsons. The checker sheepishly said, “Do you have one of our preferred customer cards?” On several occasions I’ve become perplexed at why I wasn’t receiving the discounted gas price at Fred Meyer until I realized I was swiping my Haggen discount card.

There must be an easier way.

One way to delight your customers is to deliver more than they expect.

I took my car to Kirmac Collision Systems to have a small dent repaired. I figured it would take maybe a day to repair. I was disappointed when I was told that the bumper would need to come off and would require a day of painting. They would need my car for at least 4 days.

I dropped off my car this past Tuesday, hoping I’d get it back by Friday. Each day I received a phone call from Jeff at Kirmac who explained what they were doing with my car. This made me feel like he appreciated my business and put my mind at ease that I’d be able to get my car back by the weekend. On Thursday he called to say he was sending my car to detail and that it would be finished that night, or a day earlier than he estimated.

Lessons learned: Guide your customer through the process. Put their mind at ease with a 3 minute phone call to explain what’s going on. And give them more than they are expecting. In this case, I got my car back a day earlier than expected, all clean and detailed.

One sure sign that my call isn’t important is when I hear this phrase while I wait 20 minutes for someone to answer my call.

I recently switched car insurance companies. One reason I chose Response is that I can speak with someone 24/7, even if my agent is on vacation. I recently filed a claim with my agent who went on vacation while the claim was being processed. No matter. She wrote notes on my profile so that anyone who looked up my claim number could quickly get up to speed on the details. It’s annoying to explain the details to three or four different levels of support because nobody is taking notes.

All businesses should make it easy to speak with someone. But most are designed to steer you in any direction other than this. They program “0” so your call goes to sales. They hide the secret code to reach anyone who can help. They start off telling you to visit their website. Or my favorite: the companies that send you into a black hole that leads to a “Thank you for calling. Goodbye”.

I took my daughter to work this past week. She wanted cheese pizza for lunch so I took to one of the pizza joints in the Pioneer Square district of Seattle. There are two pizza places very close to each other only a few block from our offices. I decided to visit the one I’ve not tried before.

As we walked in the door we were greeted by a man who was helping other customers. He said, “We have great pizza!”. My first thought was this guy is a bit crazy, but he seemed so sincere. He took my order of two pieces of cheese pizza. As he grabbed two slices that had just come out of the oven he said, “You are in for some good pizza”.

And you know what? He was right. The pizza was good. But what made the visit memorable was that his man (he could have been the owner) was thrilled with his product and wanted to share that with his customers. And compared to the other pizza place around the corner, this man seemed to be enjoying his job! Have you ever done business with some who clearly hates his or her job? Or the employee who starts to mop the floor under your feet while you’re still eating so they can get out of there the minute the store closes? It’s not right to put chairs up on tables when you’re open for another 30 minutes.

When I shop at Target or Starbucks I can count on running into employees that are happy to see me. They greet me as I walk in the store and say thank you when I depart. They smile. They look me in the eyes. They guide me to the product I’m looking for.

So maybe this guy serving pizza is on to something. Do your customers see you as someone that’s genuinely happy when they walk into your door? If so, you probably don’t have to worry much about that competitor around the corner.

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Jason at 37Signals is impressed with how Apple works hard at selling its employees on their message. He states: “Apple sells Apple to its employees as strongly  as it sells Apple to its customers”.

Does your company sell to you? Do they get the message in? Few companies I’ve worked for do this well.

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I’ve been a loyal State Farm insurance customer for over 15 years. I still carry my home insurance policy with them. But I was surprised to see such a wide variance in car insurance pricing. Here’s is sample of quotes I received from three different insurance companies:

Cost to insure 2000 Honda Odyssey and 2002 BMW 325i. No moving violations for both insured drivers.

State Farm – $180/month
GMAC – $133/month
Response – $82/month

I switched to Response at the first of April and wouldn’t you know, I made my first claim today when someone scraped the tail end of the BMW. So far they have been very responsive to my claim. So far so good. Maybe it does pay to shop around.

Sampling of prices at the ballpark (Safeco Field, Seattle):

1. Upper deck seat – $10
2. Foot long hotdog – $6
3. Small drink – $3.75
4. Cotton Candy – $5.50
5. Kids baseball cap – $14

It’s not hard to spot where the real money is made.