Marc Krones Market Research LLC

See previous post.  I’m a bit of a movie buff, and I came up with a Films of the Decade list, and e-mailed it to my friends.  I see no harm posting it here as well, and to be honest, looking at many other “Films of the Decade” lists, I’ll put my Top 10 with just about anyone else. 

I’m just going to list my favorite films of the decade here without comment.  For a more detailed analysis, you’ll have to ask me!

1.    Nobody Knows (Dare mo shiranai) - (2005)
2.    Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - (2004)
3.    Capturing the Friedman’s - (2003)
4.    The Passion of the Christ - (2004)
5.    A Beautiful Mind - (2001)
6.    The Departed - (2006)
7.    Dirty Pretty Things - (2003)
8.    (Tie) Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002) and Lady Vengeance (2006)
9.    Bridget Jones’ Diary - (2001)
10.  Let the Right One In - (2008)

Well, I suppose it might seem a bit nonsensical to talk about movies on a blog like this, but as most people who know me already know how much of a film buff I am, I saw no harm in listing my Top Ten Films of 2009.  I’ve been doing it every year for awhile now, so why not post it here?

In any event, here is my Top Ten list for 2009 films:

1.    Precious
2.    Cloudy, With a Chance of Meatballs
3.    Up
4.    Treeless Mountain
5.    Tyson
6.    I  Love You, Man
7.    Two Lovers
8.    State of Play
9.    Star Trek
10.  Avatar

What I soon realized when I started this blog, was that the most popular part about it seemed to be my fiance! 

So we did end up getting married on September 6 - the Sunday of Labor Day weekend at the Bridgewater Manor in Bridgewater, NJ.  We had the ceremony outside, and the weather couldn’t have been nicer.  Really, hardly anything else could have been nicer.  So although 2009 has been a challenging year professionally, it will always go down in my book as a wonderful year, for this reason.  Here’s a picture of us on our wedding day.

Well, there’s certainly been quite a gap between entries!  But I guess I wasn’t inspired until now! 

Right before Thanksgiving, I received an e-mail from one of my clients, who’s entry in part read,

“This year was hard enough - we were all faced with challenges and tough times.  However, there is so much to be thankful for!”

You know, she’s right!  It was a very profound thing to say, and I thanked her for it.  On a professional level, it’s been an extremely challenging year for so many of us.  Sometimes it’s hard to stay positive.  I must admit it’s easier looking back on hard times, and realizing it wasn’t as bad as we thought it was, then it is to be in the middle of it all and say the same thing.  Hopefully, 2010 will be a better year professionally.  In the meantime, no matter how difficult it might be, it is important for us all to count our blessings, which are many.

Well…since I’m new figuring out how to do things on this blog, I wanted to post a picture, so that I could learn how to do it.  So actually, here’s a picture of my fiance.  It will be the first marriage for both of us, and we will be married in September of 2009.  This picture was taken of Ginny in New Orleans. 

There was another new client that I started working with in January, 2007.  I remember it so well, because I met him in Chicago the week before the Bears played in the Super Bowl! 

After we observed how interviewing was going (thankfully, it was going well at all their Chicago locations), we had a few minutes to step out for lunch.  He had mentioned to me that they were using long-time suppliers for some of their other work, but were getting irritated by some of them.  Why?  Because some of their suppliers had apparently become complacent.  They took the work that they were getting from this company for granted. 

Now I suppose that’s human nature, but it’s also a very bad business habit.  I know that I’m only as valuable to my client as by how well I did my last project for them.  Now, if I’ve successfully done seven projects for someone, and then there’s a few glitches on Project #8, I’d like to think that I’ve built up enough equity with that client that they’ll give me another chance.  Just as I would give someone the benefit of the doubt if they always did great work for me, but made a mistake on our last project. 

But it’s not just whether or not you screw-up a study.  Are you providing them with the same high level of customer service?  Are you keeping them abreast of the project in the field as promptly as you’ve always done?  Are you keeping the dates you’ve promised?

In my “other” life before MKMR, I went away on vacation, and someone was supposed to fill in for me and deliver tabs to my client the week I was away.  When I came back, not only wasn’t yet sent out to them, this person wasn’t even concerned or upset about it, saying, ”well, it’s not like the client called up asking where it is.” 

Suffice to say, I was livid, and I no longer allowed her to work on my projects.  What a horrible way to treat a client.  Thankfully, the client was a good sport about the whole thing, and I rushed to give him his tabs, and it didn’t affect our relationship.  As a matter of fact, he’s in a different capacity at a different company, but we’ve still remained friends.

When I began thinking about including a blog to my website, it was because I wanted to talk about certain things that I wasn’t sure would work as a page on my website.  In the short time that I’ve been out on my own, I’ve received important pieces of advice from clients that I hope will aid me in my goal to provide the best possible customer service to them that I can. 

Piece of advice #1 came to me from a client I began working with in 2007.  Now normally, I like to send out holiday gifts whenever I can as a token of my appreciation for the work I am given.  I say that I “normally” like to send out holiday gifts, because some of my clients are not allowed to accept any kind of holiday gift due to corporate policy.  In my other life before MKMR, one client actually was angry with me for sending them something! 

Anyway,  I asked my new client if I was allowed to send a holiday gift to her and her colleagues, and she said that I was, and that it certainly would be appreciated, but wasn’t at all necessary.  And she also said to me:

“Sometimes around the holidays, we get these ridiculously expensive gifts from suppliers who spent the year causing more headaches than we can count.  I always send them back when they are over the limit, but in some cases I want to attach a note [that says] ‘Thank you for your generous gift.  I am returning it and would like to instead exchange it for accurate, timely work.’”

Obviously, she meant this all in a humorous way, but there certainly was more than just a grain of truth to it.  And I’d like to think that I evaluate the suppliers I use in the same way.  Yes…it’s great to work with someone who is friendly, and gives out great holiday gifts.  But that’s not the reason why I use someone.  I use who I use because they do my work in a timely, cost-effective and high-quality manner.  That’s the most important thing.  And if they continually screw-up my work, then I’ll have to look into using someone else.  Just as my client (justifiably) will use someone else if I screw-up their work, no matter how nice I am, or no matter how nice my holiday gifts are to them.