It seems to me that there is a certain subset of businesses operating in today's world that just don't seem to get it. If your business treats me with respect, then I will be far more inclined to do business with you. If, on the other hand, you treat me like an idiot, then I will avoid your business like the plague. Take, for instance, the numerous credit card offerings I get in the mail. The chances are, if you have sent me 20 previous offers for credit cards, I will refuse your latest one that presents no added benefits compared to the previous bazillion other offers. So STOP SENDING THEM! I don't care that I get a low interest rate if I transfer an existing balance to another card. The reason I have good credit and can get a platinum card if I want to is because I'm smart enough not to carry a balance!

I also find that many advertisements on television and the radio seem to want to go out of their way to annoy me. I know that creating a good advertisement is a difficult and expensive proposition. But so is running a good business. Put in some effort to make the ad effective without being annoying. If ads start to annoy me, I start to actively avoid going to those establishments.

The thing I like to see businesses do to gain my respect and my money is for them to display a strong image taking the high road. If you treat your customers well, have a good product that you support very well, and don't annoy me or treat me like an idiot, then I will likely do business with you!

Examples of the wrong way to do this:

CapitalOne credit cards (the reason I'm ranting about this to begin with)
anyone doing telemarketing calls (particularly the pushy ones)
companies that utilize those automated dialing systems (the ones that call you and saw "please hold for the next available service representative" ... YOU CALLED ME! Please tell me you've got enough time to deal with your valued customer)
Annoying ads that say the same thing at the same time slot every morning. Good examples of this are the ads that are placed in between news segments on The Bear radio station. I will never buy a mattress from Sleep Country, Jeep-Dodge-Chrysler, or the handful of others that had ads that I didn't want to listen to EVERY morning when my alarm went off. (kinda defeats the purposes of advertising if I don't go buy stuff from you).

I really like how there are some really upfront companies that treat their customers with respect and do a good job doing what they do. Examples of these companies (note that I am not paid by these companies for saying this ... they are just an example of what I mean. The PSO link does give me referrals if you signup with them, but that is their standard referral program):

Poker Source Online has gone over and above their call on many occasions. I'm not as active a member there since I've finished nearly all the promos they offer, but as long as you follow the instructions for each promo they will take care of you.
NearlyFreeSpeech.net is my current webhost, and they do an amazing job. Unlike many web hosting services that attempt to offer packages which do not suit the needs of the person buying that package, nearlyfreespeech only charges you for what you use. Their FAQ and other documentation is incredibly refreshing to read. They tell you exactly why they feel they deserve your business and do not cut corners or fudge the truth. If you're looking for a good webhost this is certainly the way to go in my opinion.

There are a few other companies that should stand out here. I'm a fan of Apple, Nintendo, and Blizzard - companies that release great products with a great eye for detail and quality. They also tend to have top-notch support which certainly doesn't hurt!

So ... if you want to impress me and earn my hard-earned money ... keep this in mind. I'd also urge you to not support the business models I mentioned earlier. I don't believe we'll see a change away from these terrible things that annoy me so much, but its nice to dream!

Heraldk