1 and 1 Web Services - a good value?

My review of 1and1 services:

I registered a domain recently through 1&1 online. The process was quick and easy and was delivered relatively quickly. A few days later I received a call from a sales rep. The rep seemed knowledgeable and well-spoken. I explained, in detail, my needs, including two must-haves. He convinced me that the 1&1 Online Store would meet my needs.

I tried to set up the online store through the 1&1 store to my specifications. The editor was clunky and extremely limited with a weak and convoluted user interface - I've seen worse, but not since 2008. This would have been more than acceptable if it was able to deliver at least one of my two must-haves.

The cumbersome control panel with disparate systems, it's weak instruction manuals, and limited online Help section were all equally unhelpful, so I decided to call their 24-7-365 support line. After being on hold for about 20 minutes, the customer support person quickly decided that she was unable to help and transferred me to an "eCommerce Specialist." Another five minutes on hold and two minutes re-explaining my two must-haves, the Specialist said 1&1 was unable to deliver and that the rep I spoke with had deceived me (perhaps unintentionally, but I was very clear with him). I asked to cancel my contract and the Specialist said he'd need to transfer me to a third person. Thirty seconds later I was hung up on.

As I'm writing this, I'm on hold after calling back. We'll see how it goes.

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Update: I was able to cancel without too much (more) trouble, but still feel the entire experience was an unfortunate waste of time. One gets what one pays for.

D&B to Discuss Predictive Analytics Strategies

Leveraging Big Data to Predict Business Opportunities / Risk

Dun & Bradstreet will be presenting a free webinar on capabilities to identify B2B clients and prospects poised for growth or actively shopping. In the video below, Paul Ballew, D&B's head of analytics offers a sneak peek for the online event scheduled for Wednesday, March 26 at 10 AM Central.

Interested in attending? You can register here.

TheLadders.com Class Action Lawsuit

Painting Turds Gold

Court Okays Suit Against Job Board for "$100k+ jobs" 

On March 12, 2014, NY District Judge John G. Koeltl ruled to deny TheLadders.com's motion to dismiss deceptive practices and breach of contract suit filed by consumer class action attorneys Bursor & Fisher a year ago.

The case alleges that the premium job search website:

• Scraped job postings without employers' knowledge or consent and misrepresented them as $100k+ jobs
• Didn't screen opportunities for to ensure all jobs were indeed $100k+ jobs
• Some of the opportunities listed either didn't exist or misrepresented income potential
• Offered "expert résumé critique" that simply triggered a form letter sales pitch for paid résumé re-writing services

According to recruitment blog Ask The Headhunter, one plaintiff claimed "a resume 'expert' at TheLadders produced a scathing critique of his resume — which he had previously paid TheLadders to write for him."

Plaintiffs were paid subscribers for premium access to TheLadders.com.

Check out that Headhunter blog for more info and to view a copy of the court's most recent ruling.

Thanks to Joel Cheesman for bringing this to our attention.

Talent Acquisition and Retention: The Six Bs

The 6 "B's" of Talent Acquisition and Retention

AND 6 QUESTIONS TO ASK TO ENSURE YOU'RE ON TRACK

You know I'm not a fan of oversimplifying complex processes with silly acronyms and whatnot, but the subject of the Human Capital's Bs came up yesterday, and I thought I'd share my two cents with you here on how world-class organizations attract, develop, and retain their talent pools.

Here is a short description of each of the HR Bs and questions executives should ask of their human resources professionals and internal leadership.

Buy

"Traditional" recruitment, including investments in:

• Employment branding
• Internal referral programs
• Business networking groups
• Automatic access to applications and employment data
• Relevant online recruitment resources
• Maintenance of contact with qualified prospects
• former applicants
• former employees
• contractors/consultants
• vendor reps

• Executives should ask "Are we effectively sourcing and onboarding talent?"

Build

Training and development through investment in things like:

• On-the-job development opportunities (i. e. advisory board, tasks force, special project)
• Training coursework (classroom and web-based)
• Mentorship and coaching programs
• Interdepartmental projects
• Empowerment, work/life balance
• Quarterly/Semi-Annual 2-way reviews

• Executives should ask "How do our employees rank their growth and satisfaction outside of work?"

Borrow

Partnerships developed with customers and vendors to increase innovation and share knowledge through:

• Joint ventures
• Experiential marketing
• Exchange programs

• Executives should ask "How much of our organizational intelligence comes from outside?"

Bound

Progressing talent through various career paths while promoting engagement 

• Personally relevant motivation
• Competitive compensation, and compensation incentives
• Non-financial investments
• Flexible and customizable benefits and working arrangements

• Executives should ask "How often do we fill key positions from the outside, and how does our retention rate compare to industry averages?"

Bounce

Drop the underachievers according to Welch's vitality model, but invest in:

• Defining and articulating the ideal culture
• Painting a clear picture of the future
• Transparent expectations and standards, with backing of Legal
• Providing candid feedback on all suggestions and complaints
• Fair and independent analysis of situations and markets
• Establishing just due processes including development opportunities
• Prompt and direct management of behaviors that are not in line with organizational goals and values

• Executives should ask "Are our poor performers in the right jobs? the right company?"

Bind

Constantly improve retention rates, foster pride and loyalty, and nurture potential through:

• Compensation
• Creative and personalized recognition and rewards
• Engagement tools
• Granting disciplined freedom with ownership of duties and outcomes
• Becoming an employer of choice by building a strong brand and employee value props
• Align internal and external communications to share and expand the message(s)

• Executives should ask "What more can we do to retain our top-performers?"

Sliding Scale Vending

Beverage Vending Machine Automatically Changes Price Based on Outside Temperature

While in Chicago the other day for the Shopper Marketing Expo, Coke’s Global Customer & Commercial Leadership Director (responsible for foodservice development and international growth strategy) described the technology used to increase traffic to vending machines at a handful of amusement parks in Spain for the past two years. The machines would automatically lower their prices as the outdoor temperature rose, by means of a software developed by Varadero.

From their headquarters, Coca-Cola spokesperson Carrie Brown explains, “The machines were designed specifically to increase trial of Limón&Nada as a thirst quencher in the summer heat.” Limón&Nada hopes to come to America under a different name as a low-cal, preservative-free lemonade from the Minute Maid brand. Also being offered in test markets is Limón&Nada Peppermint and Limón&Nada Light.

Brown said that the software hasn’t been used in other markets, but declined to comment as to weather (tee-hee) they planned on using this technology in the future.