Shoestring Marketing: Recent experiences lead to forgotten life lessons

A confluence of recent events leads me to some observations that diverge from the "how-to" instructions that this column normally communicates. Call them philosophical droppings, if you will.

The first event

I had the good fortune to stay off the road for the last two weeks. In addition to getting reacquainted with home and office, I took the time to watch TV for more than the weather and the sports scores. I found myself both seduced and enthralled by two particularly powerful presentations, both incidentally on PBS.

The first was a series by art critic and social historian Robert Hughes on Australia ("Beyond the Fatal Shore"). The other was by Bill Moyers and dealt with death ("On Our Own Terms"), a particularly pertinent subject for an aging baby boomer like myself.

Both programs represented the pinnacle of quality empowering, illuminating, capable of evoking laughter or tears.

I also suffered the self-imposed misfortune of tuning into the MTV Video Music Awards. Here we had a celebration of the boorish, the demeaning and the crude. Lazy performances, delivered in an environment where the cheap thrill is a ready substitute for the professionalism that the medium should demand.

The second event

A recent bout of sickness has forced me to a number of doctors' offices, a debilitating process in itself.

The problem was not the getting of the appointment. Nor was it the quality of the health care itself. There is, after all, a pill for every ailment. The frustration lay in seeking the answers; in the failure to have the medical practitioner spend more than the obligatory 10 minutes in providing the explanation.

In short, getting a straight answer.

The third event

I'm currently renovating a house, a task that matches the appeal of an infected root canal constant, throbbing pain culminating in an expensive bill for services rendered. Of seven contractors called to bid on the project, only two had the courtesy to respond.

Landscapers won't return repeated calls. Builders attempt to gouge with stratospheric bids and when the deal is cut, and the contract sealed, they ignore the agreed-upon completion and delivery dates.

The irony is that I'm happy to pick up the tab. It's not a matter of price. It's simply a matter of courtesy, responsiveness and honesty.

My needs and aspirations were simple. I wanted to lounge in front of the television set and be served a quality viewing meal that, at the least, entertained and at most, uplifted. I wanted a medical practitioner who would take more than five minutes to listen and diagnose the hidden concern in addition to the surface ailment. I wanted a contractor who would enter a partnership based on the harmony of promises fulfilled.

In these IPO-dripping times of fast-buck zillionaires, there is still room for a quality product, honestly made, ethically communicated and professionally delivered. These are the best of times. Any moron can make money nowadays. Wait till the economic tides turn; that's when the marketing basics will reappear on the radar screen ... protecting the quality and integrity of the product, returning the call promptly, treating the customer with the respect that he/she deserves. In the meantime, if you're doing all three, don't give up. Your day will come.

(Alf Nucifora has spent the last 10 years as a professional speaker. His column, entitled "Shoestring Marketing" is syndicated bi-monthly in more than 50 business publications in the U.S.)