Open House - A behind-the-scenes view of Manage My Home

Manage My Home is Just My Day Job

Sorry to be silent for so long, but I've been involved in a really interesting project. Last week, I attended all day sessions with our Sears Home Services group to brainstorm around customer experience.

I was assigned to the Protection Agreement group. I've done a little work for them before putting together some email campaigns. (I've also worked with the Home Services group on a survey email.) After a week of non-stop meetings, I know almost everything there is to know about the Protection Agreement terms and the service process.

It got me thinking, why do people buy Protection Agreements and what stops them from doing so? I've had a few really negative experiences with Best Buy and Circuit City in the past and swore Protection Agreements weren't worth the money. Despite that, I have purchased two with Sears. For my HDTV, it was because the cost of repairs was explained to me and I could really see the value. For my vacuum, it was because the store associate did such a good job explaining the benefits.

Do you buy Protection Agreements? If not, is there something Sears could do to change your mind?

-Alex, Marketing

Paper or Plastic?

Paper or plastic? You may be familiar with that question. It's the question you get when you are standing in line at the grocery store. What about answering this question in relation to your product manuals? Would you prefer to read them on paper or plastic? Well, okay not really plastic but on a plastic digital device called the Amazon Kindle. If you could download your product manuals to your Kindle would you be more likely to refer to them then if you have to access them online or in hard paper copy? A colleague of mine here at Manage My Home suggested this idea and I am curious what the community might think about this idea. For me, reading the manual in paper form is probably the method I would most likely prefer, but the notion of all my manuals being readily available on a Kindle or Kindle-like device is interesting. Let us know where and how you would prefer to read your manuals, paper or plastic?

-Garret, Industrial Designer

What would you do with $10,000?

Last holiday season, we ran a photo contest, Project Holiday, and asked our members to share their holiday stories and vote on their favorite.

I received a great email from our Grand Prize winner (roberts99) today. I'm happy to share that The Roberts family is planning to replace their air-conditioner, which is on its last leg.

The best part about our contest is how the Manage My Home community got involved both in the voting and in commenting on entries. Our Honorable Mention winner (Melissaann11) even let the community pick the tile for the floor in her basement!

Project Holiday was only the beginning. I'm planning some small contests this Summer and Fall, but we'll be back with Project Holiday this December. Watch this blog for more details!

-Alex, Marketing

P.S. The Roberts family is a finalist in another contest on TLC. I encourage you to check out the finalists and vote (daily) by 5/10.

Your experience makes the difference

We've added a new project to the Manage My Home Project Center this week, called Plant a Tree. I've planted my share of trees over the years, most recently late last summer, when I dug, hefted, sweated and grunted for the sake of three flowering crabapples.

We've done a fair amount of digging, hefting, sweating and grunting to expand the Project Center, which we launched about the time I planted those flowering crabs. Each project requires that we make dozens of choices about how much detail to include. It's inevitable that we give too much detail for some of you and too little for others.

That's where you come in. Each project has a community forum on the Community tab, where you can share your wisdom about the best way to seal a floor without getting gunk in the polyurethane or mask trim before painting a wall. Or you can ask a question, or tell us that a particular step would be better if we added this or that.

The crabs are starting to flower, by the way.

-Erin, Managing Editor