Interesting People
March 10, 2010
There’s a finite amount of time in a given day, and as I enter my 50s, I’m becoming acutely aware that the “end of the line” is not some distant destination, but something that has more and more effect on the decisions I make.
And that means I have to be very deliberate in deciding where to spend every waking minute, and with whom. So let me offer you a suggestion on one characteristic you may want to consider.
We have very close friends we’ve known for about 20 years. We’ve traded stories and strategies about raising our kids as they’ve grown up, enjoyed many great home-cooked meals together, and been successful in getting together despite both moving from the “old neighborhood” to new homes nearly an hour apart.
Whenever we meet for dinner now, alternating between their house and ours, we spend hours getting caught up on what’s happened since the last time we were together. And it’s not like we haven’t seen them for years or even months - on average, we see them every seven or eight weeks.
So how is it we have so much to talk about? I think it all comes down to a comment our friend Dale made over one of these dinners: “I like hanging out with interesting people.”
He went on to say that interesting people visit different places, try different things, and interact with other interesting people, and that these experiences make for great stories.
Think about the people you hang out with - are they interesting to be around? Do they have stories to share about their adventures and experiences?
Do they have a positive upbeat outlook on life? Or do they just bitch and moan about how horrible everything is and how miserable their lives are?
The people you surround yourself with have an influence on your attitudes, on your disposition, and on your life in general. Why not surround yourself with interesting people?
Service Recovery Done Right
March 10, 2010
As I’m writing this, I’m on my way home from speaking at a conference in Colorado Springs. It was held at the Broadmoor Hotel, which is a fantastic property with great service from everyone from the front desk clerks to the hotel operator.
So last night, when I was finished with the program, I decided to treat myself to a nice dinner, figuring that it would be a great experience. And since I had to be on a 4:30 a.m. shuttle to the airport, I really wasn’t up for a late night with a lot of people.
I made a reservation at the Charles Court restaurant for 6:00 p.m. and was seated at a nice table with a view of the lake. The waitress came to the table, greeted me by name and described the evening’s specials, including a grouper dish that sounded great. As it turns, out, I really like grouper - when it’s cooked right, it just kind of flakes apart when you take a fork to it.
Well, that one had my name on it, so that’s what I ordered. And when the dish came out, it looked great. Unfortunately, there was a problem: the grouper was tough and chewy: it had been overcooked.
So when the waitress stopped by to make sure everything was fine, I mentioned this to her. Without missing a beat, she apologized, and offered to bring me something else or have the chef prepare another order of grouper. I asked her to bring the menu so I could take a look, and decided on something else.
When she came back, she apologized again, and told me that she had spoken to the chef and he agreed - it had been overcooked. She was actually a bit worked up about this herself, since she had just recommended it - and placed six orders for the grouper for another table she was working.
That would have been enough, but the restaurant manager came over to apologize himself, confirmed that, or course there would be no charge for the grouper, and all but insisted I have dessert on the house.
Even at a first-class hotel like this, there will be occasional missteps - because of the sheer size of the place it’s unavoidable. And it’s probably the same at your company. Problems are going to happen.
But if you address them quickly and definitively, you can build a level of customer loyalty even greater than if nothing had gone wrong in the first place. Make sure you have “service recovery” procedures in place to handle these situations when they occur.
Gold Coaching Webinars and Teleseminars
March 9, 2010
• March 10 (Wednesday) 2-3 pm EST: Live Webinar: Process…What Process?
To get great results every time, you simply can’t leave anything to chance. That’s why we’ll be discussing the secrets to creating processes that actually work!
• March 24 (Wednesday) 2-3 pm EDT: Q & A / Open Critique Webinar
Get answers to your most pressing questions and have your marketing materials reviewed during this live webinar.
• Note Date Change: April 13 (Tuesday) 2-3 pm EDT: Live Webinar
Joint Ventures: How to Leverage Partnerships for Maximum Profit
In this webinar, you’ll learn how to create successful joint ventures that let you expand both your customer base and your sources of revenue.
• April 28 (Wednesday) 2-3 pm EDT: Q & A / Open Critique Webinar
Get answers to your most pressing questions and have your marketing materials reviewed during this live webinar.
Specific call-in and webinar details will be sent by e-mail and fax a week before each event.
If you want to join our Business Self-Defense Gold Coaching Program to enable you to attend these programs, e-mail us at info@qualitytalk.com. Read more
Computer Overheating?
March 2, 2010
Like most of you, I spend a good deal of time working on my computer. Whether it’s in my HTML editor writing this newsletter, on MindJet working on mind maps for upcoming programs, or in QuickBooks dealing with the mundane details of business finance, most of what I do in any given day has my fingers on these keys.
So when my laptop computer started making a new strange noise, I noticed it immediately. The noise was the cooling fan. Every computer - desktop, laptop, or room-sized mainframe - has them. They have to, because the CPU - the “brain” of the computer - generates a lot of heat, and if not cooled properly will quite literally start melting the components around it on the circuit board.
That’s why all modern computers have built-in heat sensors that will increase the speed of the cooling fan to reduce the heat of the CPU, and when there’s no more speed to give, will step in and shut down the computer - immediately, and unceremoniously, causing you to lose any unsaved work.
Okay, so much for the computer hardware lesson, now on to the marketing lesson!
My computer wasn’t getting so hot that it had to shut down, but the fan was running at a high enough speed that the noise was, well, annoying. At the normal speed, the fan is so quiet that it’s barely a whisper and tends to get lost in the normal background noise of an office environment. But when it’s working overtime, it sounds like there’s a constant gust of wind blowing through my office.
I looked for an explanation (and a solution) on several different tech support sites. I called a friend of ours who fixes computers for a living. I downloaded utility software that showed me the CPU temperature and fan speed.
But nothing seemed to work.
Then I started noticing something interesting. Whenever I restarted the computer, the fan ran normally. Whenever I put the computer into “sleep” mode by closing the screen to pack it up in my case, upon awakening, the fan would kick in after about three or four minutes.
When I put the computer into “hibernate” mode and then closed the screen, when I started it up again, it ran fine.
I’d like to know why putting the computer to sleep made the fan kick in when I started it up. I really would. But my primary objective throughout all of this was to get the noise to stop so I could get my work done without the constant distraction of the noise and worry that the computer might spontaneously shut down in the middle of something important.
There are things in life, and in marketing that are unexplainable, and yet undeniably and observably true. You can spend hours of time trying to understand them; you can bang your head against the wall trying to change them; or you can accept that they just “are” and use that knowledge to your advantage.
In any case, the third option will probably keep your own CPU - your brain - from overheating and shutting down!
The 24-Hour Rule
March 2, 2010
I get angry sometimes. I try not to get angry over the little stuff; but some days it just seems like there’s a global conspiracy of stupidity that somehow finds its way to my doorstep, complicating my business life and spilling over into my personal life.
If you’re looking for a specific example, I don’t have one in particular this week - but I’m sure if you think back over the last few days, you’ll almost certainly come up with an experience of your own that fits the bill.
And that’s actually sufficient for our purposes, since what I really want to talk about is not the frustrating situations themselves, but rather our reactions to these experiences. Our tendency is to respond with a knee-jerk reaction, lashing out at the source of the irritation with the full force of our disappointment, dismay, and outrage, and doing so immediately.
I’d like to suggest an alternate approach that has proven successful - if not always in resolving the situation, then at least in helping me relax a bit in the face of the problem, and, as often as not, get a better resolution.
It’s a simple strategy I call “The 24-Hour Rule” and it’s as simple as the name implies: when something has you so angry and upset that you feel the need to do something about it right now, stop, take a deep breath, and wait 24 hours. Here are a few examples:
A friend reveals to others something you told her in confidence? Wait 24 hours.
A client completely rewrites an agreement you sent for approval? Wait 24 hours.
Lines at the airport security checkpoint almost make you miss your flight? Wait 24 hours.
Sometimes it’s difficult to allow yourself that cooling-down period, but there are three reasons you should at least try:
1. You’ll be thinking more clearly when you’re not in a blind rage
2. The time will let your brain come up with more creative solutions to the problem
3. You won’t get yourself so wound up with consuming rage that you damage your health
Of course, not all situations need this kind of deliberate approach, and, in fact, some situations do require immediate action. But in most cases you’ll find this a good strategy that delivers surprisingly positive results.
High-Speed Internet?
February 24, 2010
Perseverance and focus are good and admirable traits. But sometimes, the odds are just stacked too much against you.
I was at my hotel in Atlanta preparing for a great program the next day. Since I got in early the day before the program, as I usually do, I had some time on my hands that I had planned to use to get some videos edited and uploaded. Of course, this was going to require a fast internet connection, so I “bit the bullet” and signed up for the hotel’s internet at $9.95 for the day.
I had a few calls to make, so rather than burn my cell-phone minutes, I used my Skype account to make the calls with my headset on the computer. Immediately, I noticed that the quality of the calls was poor. I mean really bad. So I checked the speed of the connection (usually the culprit) and found that my “high-speed” internet was actually slower than a dial-up connection.
A quick call to the front desk, and they said I had to talk to the provider’s technical support line, and they would be glad to transfer me. I did get transferred, but to a recording that said, “I’m sorry, your call can not be completed as dialed; please try again later.”
Assuming that the front-desk clerk had somehow keyed in the wrong number, I called down there again; got transferred again; and got the same message. I asked for the number so I could try it myself, and got the same message.
If you’re like most people, you get annoyed about things like this happening. But at some point, it becomes comical and you just have to take a deep breath, let out a big sigh, and find something else to do instead.
There’s an old saying that the only good thing about banging your head against the wall is that it feels so good when you stop.
If you find yourself in that kind of situation, it may just be the universe telling you to take a step back and rethink what you’re doing. I didn’t complete my video projects that night, but I did get some other important work done. And the program the next day - the reason I was there in the first place - was very successful, so all in all, the trip was great.
Sometimes it’s important to work through a challenge, and make sure you know when it’s time to “regroup” when life seems to be throwing too many roadblocks your way.
Let’s Give it to the Agency
February 24, 2010
It’s important to seek out and utilize resources that have more experience in a particular field than you do. But what happens when their expertise is…well, wrong?
Yesterday, I was on a consulting webinar call with one of our Business Self-Defense Gold Coaching members. He had sent in some of the various marketing pieces he was working on so I could make some suggestions that would help improve their effectiveness and response.
While we were both viewing one of the samples on our respective screens, I pointed to an entire section at the bottom of the page where there were logos of the various organizations and associations his company belonged to.
I suggested that these were not necessary, since they added nothing to the message that would encourage the desired response from the reader.
I heard laughter on the other end of the call, followed by, “Yeah, I didn’t even put them there. I had someone helping out with the design, and he actually tracked down the logos and added to the page without checking with me first.”
The person helping him was, by all accounts, a “design professional,” trained to produce attractive, pleasing ads. Here’s the problem: nowhere in that description did I use the words, “Trained to produce ads that will get people to jump out of their seats, visit a web site to request information; pick up the phone to call; or pull out their credit cards to buy something.”
Oh, the ad looked nice, but the logos and several other “design elements” took up valuable space that could have been much better utilized with testimonials, descriptions of value, and calls to action.
Unfortunately, most staffers at ad agencies are nothing more than artists pretending to be business people. Who do you want handling your marketing materials? Make sure anyone you entrust with even the smallest piece of your budget can deliver tangible, measurable results.
You Made Me End a Relationship!
February 18, 2010
We just got back from an unexpected and unpleasant trip to New York. Three months after my mother passed away, we had to attend my aunt’s funeral, held at the same chapel and cemetery.
Many friends and family members got up to share their memories of my Aunt Flora. Common themes were her intelligence, phenomenal cooking abilities, and love of family, especially her 54-year marriage to my Uncle Lou.
They were truly in love, and it showed every time I saw them.
One of the last people to speak at the service was their aide, Nicki. Towards the end, my aunt’s health was failing, and they had a full-time aide to assist them in the daily chores.
Nicki told the group how she had never known a couple like Lou and Flora, and didn’t know until then what a relationship was supposed to look like. She then offered a personal note, that she had been in a bad relationship when she started working with my aunt and uncle, and that, upon seeing and appreciating their relationship, immediately ended her own, knowing that she shouldn’t have to settle for less.
Her exposure to their relationship influenced her in profound ways, just as the people you surround yourself with affect and influence you.
They may not save you from a bad personal situation, but they will affect your mindset, your outlook on life, and, ultimately, the results and outcomes you achieve.
Federer’s Record
February 18, 2010
My wife and I enjoy watching tennis, so when the Australian Open was on a few weeks ago, we taped a lot of the matches and watched the men’s final with some friends.
It was going to be an exciting match, with Andy Murray from Scotland going for his first Grand Slam win. Unfortunately, he was playing Roger Federer who is arguably the best ever to play the game on the men’s side - and he’s not done yet.
At one point in the match, when Murray was in danger of losing the second set in the best-of-five match, the statisticians fed this bit of information to the on-air announcers:
Roger Federer’s record when leading 2-0 in Grand Slam matches is 151-0.
That’s right, when he’s up two sets to none, he’s won 151 of those matches and never lost a single one. And this is just one of the amazing statistics he’s racked up over the years.
So what does this mean to Andy Murray on the other side of the net? It means that if he doesn’t hold on and win that second set, his chances of coming from behind to win the match are virtually nonexistent.
In fact, he lost both the second and the following set to lose the match. To listen to Federer, the outcome was never in doubt after the second set. His confidence borders on cockiness, but he does back it up.
What this means for you is that you have to do everything you can to amass a collection of successes - small ones at first, and then bigger and more significant ones. It will help give you a level of confidence that will inspire trust to help you get and keep new customers, clients, and members.
Brother, Can You Spare a Testimonial?
February 18, 2010
In This Month’s Business Self-Defense™ Inner Circle CD…
Testimonials are among the most important elements to include in any marketing piece, and yet surprisingly few people use them effectively - if at all. But there’s some good news. This month Al Oelschlaeger will share his thoughts on how to easily incorporate testimonials into your marketing. You’ll discover:
* The secret to getting great testimonials every time
* When to use text, audio, and video testimonials
* How to make it easy for people to give you great testimonials
