Re: Responding to a Poor Product Review

**"* P* <r*@comcast.net>**

Noel,

I love your CobraHead tool. I use it for everything...weeding, digging 
holes, getting out small rocks, making rows for seeds...whatever. It is 
always in my bucket with my "go to" tools. You have also supplied a couple 
for my master gardener trips and the feedback I got back was positive.

My guess is the three people that trialed the tool were not "real" 
gardeners. If they are the type that just plant some annuals every spring, 
they might not find a use for it. Or, there seem to many that have their 
favorite tools and just don't try anything new. Gardeners that are 
constantly in the garden digging, weeding, planting, fussing...something 
everyday, should definitely find many uses for it.

You have testimonials on your website, including some writers and 
horticulturists...so you can either let it go (some publicity is better than 
none?)...or have more of the garden writers test your product and include it 
in their articles.

Sandie Parrott
Freelance Garden, Travel & Features, Writer/Photographer
Contributor to...
Michigan Gardener Magazine
The Herbarist, Herb Society of America
GO Magazine (AirTran in-flight magazine)
FREE NYC - The Ultimate Free Fun Guide to the Big Apple
FREE OC - The Ultimate Free Fun Guide to the California Riviera
The Oakland Press
The Flint Journal
Member, Garden Writer's Association (GWA)
Master Gardener Society of Oakland County MI - Trips & Tours
Phone: 248.394.1532
Email: info@SandieParrott.com
Website: www.SandieParrott.com

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Noel Valdes" <info@cobrahead.com>
To: "Garden Writers -- GWL -- The Garden Writers Forum" 
<gardenwriters@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Sunday, July 13, 2008 8:24 PM
Subject: [GWL] Responding to a Poor Product Review

> Hello GWL,
>
> Here's a situation I hope some writers might comment on.  As many of you
> know, we produce a couple garden tools.  We were recently asked by a 
> writer
> at The St. Louis Post-Dispatch to assist with photos and information so he
> could do a review of our small tool.  This is what he came up with:
>
> http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/lifestyle/stories.nsf/lifestyle/homedecor/story/070b3418879c134b862574800074d9b0?OpenDocument
>
> In general, reviews of our tools have been extremely positive.  I know we
> can't expect glowing reviews every time someone has to put together an
> article, but the comments from the testers are really inane.  Especially
> this one, "If I'm going to carry around a tool, I need it to be able to do
> more than just weed and dig."  Okay, so what is that garden tool supposed 
> to
> do besides weed and dig?
>
> Regardless, I think a typical reader would be disinclined to buy the tool
> after reading the article.  So, should I just let it slide and say that's
> show business, or should I rebut?   And if I were to comment back to the
> Post-Dispatch, what would be the best approach?
>
> Thanks,
> Noel
>
> Noel Valdes
> CobraHead LLC
> W9545 Hwy. 18
> Cambridge, WI 53523
> 608-423-9119 tel
> 866-962-6272 toll free
> 608-423-4884 fax
> info@cobrahead.com
> www.cobrahead.com
> www.cobrahead.com/blog
>
>
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