This is why you have multiple Twitter accounts and alter egos!

I get and like the point, but have to agree with others that every company doesn't have good customer service. To your point, you can't just advertise "service" or "best customer service" or whatever lame phrase. It has to express specific pains that a certain industry or type of customer feels. If you can do that, and shock the potential customer of how you read their mind, you can win with good customer service. Sometimes all it takes is a quick follow up to their initial request and a quick quote. You look like you are prompt and that you care.

Quality and other bullet points . . . depending on the industry or product, kind of lost in the piles of numerous quotes. You have to get personal and somehow make a relationship offline (like you preach.)

"Reverse Marketing" - that's a brilliant concept Jim. Our product sucks so bad you should buy it!

That's a great idea Bruce. I think Distinctive Diamonds takes a different approach. The owner's family is the supplier based in Israel, so not only do they cut out the middleman, they get the nice family deal and have the largest selection of diamonds in the state. They used to sell to the other jewelers in Indianapolis, but now they sell direct to you. They also are the only jeweler in town that shows you the "blue book" prices for the quality of diamond you're looking at. This shows you the real "fair" price, and that is the price they sell the diamond at. I learned all of this info from their radio spots. They say their price is considerably less than their competitors, and from my experience they are telling the truth.

The blue book approach is what really sold me. Quality, cut, brightness . . . buying an expensive diamond gets very confusing and scary. But when they show you a national publication of fair diamond prices, and the same quality certified diamond from another jeweler is much more expensive, you're sold. It takes all the pressure and sales stuff out of the process.

So with diamonds, sure service, guarantee and a heart warming story all sound good, but it is such a large investment that if you can make the customer comfortable knowing he got a great diamond at a great price . . . you will sell more diamonds.

Yup, and your comment reminds me of Compendium's battle to stay simple versus adding new features. There's a fine line between too much control (not as easy to use) and not enough features. I think Wordpress does it pretty well though.

Nice post...I'm surprised this isn't available in the Visibility options.

They showed your site at a blogging seminar this morning and I thought the guy went to the wrong website! Wow, nice improvement.

You are completely right, the packaging has little to do with it. I remember friends at Ball State bringing back cases and cases of Fat Tire over ten years ago. The small supply and growing demand made it big. The good taste and cool name helped as well . . . the packaging? not so much.

I like it! It might look good if you change your header from black to white?

Geeze Colin, thanks for the mention. I really like the look and features of Intense Debate, but I'm having problems with the comment approval process. For high traffic sites, I'm having MUCH better luck with Disqus. It does a better job than Wordpress and plugins with handling spam. I have a draft post about it, ha.