If you were made Chief Tormentor for the day what would you change?

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Permalink Reply by David Minton on March 2, 2009 at 4:08am

Nice one Erik!

2a. Abso-bloomin-lutely. Putting the drop-down list of artists on the front page would be quite useful too.

2b. Agreed. Heard vague hints that this may be in the pipeline. But Stave seems happier to restrict this info to customers who've bought (and completed) other Tricks before. I think this was alluded to in the American Express magazine article? Perhaps it's easier to restrict access to this info, than to flatly refuse to sell a puzzle to a customer (who hasn't bought a Stave before). Dare I say that this policy helps make sure the LEs get sold to "real" Stave fans? 8-O Maybe. Maybe not.

2c. That would be nice. However, I wonder if having Trick puzzles "on rotation" is a necessity because of the time involved in learning how to cut each puzzle? It could be that flagging them up on Puzzlenuts would result in a group of people ordering an MIA puzzle at the same time, making it easier and more economical for a cutter to learn, practice and then craft a number of the puzzles one after another. I may very well be talking out of my behind here.

2d. Yeah, this is a great idea. Would be interesting to be able to download PDFs of historic catalogues too, for reference and general interest LOL. The money Stave would save on sending you your catalogue could be used to send you half a metric buttload of puzzles Erik LOL.

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Permalink Reply by Erik on March 2, 2009 at 8:23am

Any of your own changes if chief for a day?

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Permalink Reply by David Minton on March 3, 2009 at 4:22am

Well, I'm a bit torn. Steve seems to be doing a pretty good job :-) I guess there's the odd thing I might tweak, but nothing too major.

I think I'd spend my temporary power commissioning new puzzles. But it's a very personal thing. I adore Betsy Brown's artwork, especially in puzzles such as Tusk til Dawn, Dutch Treat and Joyful Toyful. They seem to have a softer almost watercolor feel to them. And I love the way her silhouettes fit so tightly together, there are hardly any drop-out spaces, yet the puzzles still manage to tease you. Very clever. I'd commission some more in this style from her, but with at least 130 pieces if not more, and at least three swords. Tusk til Dawn and Joyful Toyful remain my favorite Staves, so I'd commission something in a similar vein, but larger and hence slightly more challenging. That alone would be fabulous. However, if I was in charge for a day I'd ask for one which would be cat-related (in a similar vein to Tusk til Dawn, only larger) with loads of cute cats in various different poses, and one which would be music-related (maybe a French Horn or Cello frame with different musical instruments inside ranging from traditional through orchestral to electronic). I love the fact that her puzzles are quite 'business-like', not very whimsical I guess, so I'd keep the silhouettes to musical instruments rather than adding performing animals in tuxedos etc. I'd continue being really self-indulgent and commission a similar puzzle based around the city of London, so maybe a Big Ben frame with little tight-fitting silhouettes of a London taxi, red bus, red telephone kiosk, post box, Buckingham Palace, Tower of London etc etc, you get the idea. I'd ask for this in the more traditional 80-piece size so it would make a good gift for me to give to friends visiting London. A kind of London version of Dutch Treat, but maybe a tiny bit more challenging.

If I hadn't been sacked already, I'd also ask Edith Bingham to add a few more Trick puzzles to her cat series, continuing the same artistic style. No need for a 1 bolt puzzle or another 2 bolt puzzle to go alongside Fishbowl Frenzy, but definitely another couple of three or four bolt Tricks. I'd maybe ask for a five-bolt puzzle in the same style, just to keep Bryan happy ;-)

To finish off I'd probably commission Candy Thun to do a non-LE Stately Home puzzle. I've always admired the Dolls House series, the Staveley Manor(?) LE and Candie's prolific use of wonderful foliage in many of her puzzles. It'd be a joy to piece together a majestic mansion complete with lush trees and bushes. I imagine the designer (maybe even Dee or Susan) would have fun designing scenarios in some of the windows, or do the artwork where you could see through the front facade into the rooms. Lots of fun with the servants downstairs and different things going on in each room. Maybe even the opportunity for a few tricks, with characters being able to be moved between different situations in different rooms! I'm sure somebody creative could run riot with this and create a puzzle which looked stunning and really beautiful, whilst having a great deal of wit and humor. How about having the man of the house pecking the butler on the cheek until you swap the pieces round with the lady of the house lol. Or having the gardener in muddy clothes in the middle of the drawing room pouring a cup of tea from a teapot, and the maid in frilly uniform in the garden with a hosepipe in her hand watering the flowers, until you swap them over of course. Something large in 2D (200+ pieces) without being an LE.

Then I'd make a nice pot of tea for everyone, served up with M&Ms.

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Permalink Reply by Erik on March 3, 2009 at 8:35am

BTW, I think Candy passed away, someone from Stave can probably confirm.

And, it's cute that you just want puzzles-puzzles-puzzles.

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Permalink Reply by Bryan on March 3, 2009 at 11:30am

I like your puzzle ideas...especially your mansion and your Trick suggestions! How fun would that be! I like your idea of adding more puzzles by Betsy Brown but I do have a soft spot for Susan and Dee's artwork as well so I'd want to see more from them as well!

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Permalink Reply by Marc on March 2, 2009 at 8:45am

Everyone has there own business model so I won't touch on pricing or loyalty programs (prize points, free puzzles such as Valentine's day gift, terrific guarantee). That's their business and, if Chief Tormentor for a day, I wouldn't think about changing something that's had 25 years of history in the making.

As the big guy for a day, three things come to mind:

1. Walk around with a huge smile -- what could be more rewarding than seeing how the magic is made?

2. Update the "in the news" section of the website -- it's dated and missing current articles that have appeared in newspapers and magazines.

3. Ask Disney for artistic permission to use images from their fine art artists (David Willardson, James Coleman, Ducky Williams, etc.) to be used in traditional puzzles.

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Permalink Reply by Jennifer on March 2, 2009 at 1:54pm

In my early years at Stave I used to joke about wanting Steve's job. Now I think, NO WAY! No one's mind works the way his does and I'm not sure I would want mine to. Some of those trick puzzles hurt my brain!!

This whole marketing/pricing talk is also making me glad I don't have Paula's job. My life is looking pretty darn good right now. I'll just stay in my own little corner of Stave and keep working with the Cutters, new Teaser designs and cutting Steve's prototypes. Sounds cushy, eh?!

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Permalink Reply by Jeanne on March 2, 2009 at 6:56pm

I could not agree with you more.

However! If I were Chief Tormentor for the day, I can think of another 'gag' like 5 easy pieces that I would want to play on my customers who really appreciate the 'deviousness' that they bestow upon me. What happens to those perfectly good puzzle pieces when a puzzle does not cut properly? What happens to that puzzle when a piece goes missing at a show? What happens when the puzzle just doesn't get cut quite right by one of the new cutters? These are all WONDERFUL puzzle pieces that have been displaced from their world of fitting in.

So, now you are asking, why would I care about these pieces? When I release my next April 1st puzzle, I would like to take these pieces and place them (several pieces from several different puzzles) that never go together to make a final puzzle in a box and sold as a low price trick puzzle. Maybe the title would be something like, 'The Impossible'.

Or, even better, how about a box full of pieces that all have the same puzzle cut. It still goes together, but figuring out how to put the right picture together would be a monumental task.

Anyhow, these are some of the 'annoying' things I would drop on a customer like myself and we would have a great laugh together. Do you still have Five Easy Pieces? Maybe you could bring it to your parties to show those of us who have never seen it in person.

Jeanne

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Permalink Reply by Bryan on March 2, 2009 at 7:37pm

Wow! The wheels are spinning! To begin with I feel the web site needs a complete redesign and overhaul. Owning a business I realize the expense associated with such an undertaking...especially when you don't see an immediate result but I feel if it were more user friendly a lot more orders could be placed buy us hungry consumers. Who wants to put money in the stock market and watch in decline when we can put our money in a beautiful Stave puzzle and have lots of fun putting it together again and again!

First we need to be able to sort by difficulty rating when it comes to the Stave Trick and Teaser puzzles. next I would add more categories than Trick and Teaser. We need Tumbler and Tile and all of the sub categories that people might want to order by. Once we find a type we like it is fun to collect all of that type so make it easy for us to find those type of puzzles.

Traditional puzzles...yes, there are so many licensing agreements and puzzles that can be ordered and cut. I would make a large group of these available at a set size based on the image of the puzzle that best fits and using silhouettes which best fit the imagery of the puzzle. In speaking with a puzzle cutter who was at Stave from the get go I understand her concern with losing touch with the personal service she was so used to when it comes to Internet ordering but the bottom line is the new generation of puzzle collectors is much more computer savvy and doesn't feel like we are losing customer service. Customer service to us is prompt replies to emails. We understand these are hand-crafted and to send an email with an order time is great customer service to me and others in my generation...I wasn't offended in the least by this type of communication so I would embrace it and promote more orders coming in through the web page. I understand the desire to customize and tailor each and every Traditional puzzle but in reality the Trick and Teaser puzzles are just too small for customization and are actually more fun when not customized. I saw Neck & Neck & Neck customized with a collectors name. I thought it made the puzzle way too easy to solve and actually distracted from the overall trickiness.

I would also start a phone campaign. Touch my customers at least every month. Some collectors might only be able to budget one puzzle a year..others might be at one a week but still a monthly phone call and literature mailing is quite beneficial. Tear sheets are a great monthly mailing. I enjoy the amount of mail I receive from Stave but in actuality the response is greater with mailings featuring fewer pieces so one 8 x 11 double sided sheet each month with three or four puzzles is great.

Then again I realize there is also the business of scheduling so many orders so I would definitely start recruiting new cutters. (Stave Puzzle nut parties is a great way to find new talent!) I would love to retire to Vermont and cut puzzles. I don't know if I would want to cut a trick puzzle however until I have solved the trick. Some trick puzzles I have actually figured out how the cutter cut the puzzle and it definitely has taken away some of the fun when it comes to putting the puzzle together again (when I say again it is probably after the 20th time!) Something like Champ I could order again and again as it is a completely different puzzle every time it is cut so that would be a fun one to learn to cut!

As for putting ALL of the Stave puzzles ever cut on the web site would be a top priority. Doesn't mean I would allow them to be ordered and purchased, but I would certainly start showing what has been done and I would definitely provide lots of photos of each of the licensed puzzle that are cut before they are delivered. Custom puzzles from custom artwork I would like to show but understand some clients would not want those photos and puzzles shared so a privacy policy would be strictly adhered to when listing images.

I would dust off this idea we were discussing here on the Puzzle Nuts regarding a City theme puzzle featuring a Museum/Zoo/Etc. I would also take the idea used in the Valentines Puzzle and Mansion and apply it to this theme and get this puzzle finished. I wonder how many more ideas are created that never come to see the light of day? I would have someone on staff pull all of those ideas out of the dustbin and work on trying to brainstorm and create something new from them. Obviously they didn't work in the original incarnation but combined with some new ideas they just might be the next big seller.

Next I would cancel the contract to go national and sell recreations of original Stave designs. There are two puzzles which are available for $10 and evidently were licensed to to be created and sold cheaply as an introduction to Stave puzzles. Being able to order Fishbowl Frenzy for $10 is just unacceptable...while you might like the money that comes in from going national and the licensing agreement I feel it waters down the presitige and would cancel it at once.

Then I would contact my friend at Neiman Marcus and have a puzzle custom cut based on the next Christmas catalogue cover and have them feature three Stave puzzles inside to be ordered. My puzzle cutters will be quite busy and it would be all hands on deck but I think it would be a fun and profitable campaign and one that is long overdue.

I'll close this reply as I have more ideas to write than I have time this evening to write them and I want to read some other ideas from my fellow P-Nutters and can only hope the Chief Tormentor is reading and might try and implement one or two of them. Sounds like a lot of us want something done to the web site so I hope that becomes a top priority! (Along with the City puzzle!!!!)

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Permalink Reply by Erik on March 2, 2009 at 8:31pm

I agree about email being personal, I consider prompt responses to email to be a personal touch and love companies that do it well.

Even though I have my disagreements with Comcast, Frank (director of customer care) is doing a great job of reaching out digitally for example on twitter, email, etc. You ask he/his team respond.

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Permalink Reply by Bryan on March 3, 2009 at 11:24am

I think you can tell most of my background is in marketing so to sum up my ramble if I were Chief Tormentor for the day and implemented so many marketing strategies I'd endup overwhelming all of the puzzle cutters, they would probably then all quit and then we would all be without puzzles. One thing is for certain though, I don't know how to design a puzzle so there wouldn't be any new Tricks to torment anyone with which we certainly wouldn't want to happen! Hey Chief Tormentor...if you're reading this...you can't retire!!! Ever!!!

One thing I think might be helpful for Stave is to maybe make a wish list of things we would like which they may or may not be able logisitically to implement but they may be able to take our ideas and tweak them into something viable. For instance...I would love there to be a Teaser and Trick Time Share program. Maybe charge $1500 and after 6 puzzles you get to keep one kind of thing like they do for the Traditional puzzles.

Also, I think a Stave Puzzle Collectors Club would be a great addition. Each year you pay dues like any other Collector Club say $125 or so and then you get a free puzzle that is only being produced for that year. During the year offer the Puzzle Club Members an exclusive Member's Only puzzle which only Member's can order during their year of membership. Each year offer a new puzzle gift and member's only puzzle. Publish a quarterly newsletter...that sort of thing. Also it would be a great place to promote Puzzle Parties, etc. I'm certain Stave has thought of this already but maybe if enough of us express an interest they could actually develop such a club. Just my 2 cents!

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Permalink Reply by Erik on March 3, 2009 at 12:12pm

Interesting ideas!

And yes, they might overwhelm the cutters...

Some of the thought on this "chief tormentor" for a day was to get a bit of a wishlist out.

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