How do you differentiate yourself?

My friend Sharon McGukin is a professional florist, teacher and now author. I recently had the privilege of working with Sharon again at a “Christmas in July Design Show” put on by one of my wholesale distributors in Phoenix, Arizona. The wholesalers merchandising and wares were all beautifully displayed. The staff was friendly and well informed about their products and gave great customer service. It was a real treat to be working here to promote my products for them. It was well over 100 degrees outside yet Sharon, being the consummate professional never let this bother her. She went right to work on designing arrangements for the many vignettes she would create for the audience the next evening.

It’s hard enough to work in a desert environment and think about Christmas. Yet, Sharon created the illusion of the holiday season with her many dozen arrangements. Sharon not only shared her design ability, she illuminated the audience with inspiration and her marketing ideas, sales tips and business philosophy for over two hours.

After the program was completed Sharon greeted guest at a table set up with her new book entitled, “Flowers of the Heart, a bride’s guide to choosing flowers for her wedding.” It is a beautifully written and photographed volume that can be used by both florist and brides. The book illustrates the important element flowers bring to this special day in people’s lives.

Customers came up to Sharon to purchase her book. She warmly greeted them and did something that I had never experienced before at a book signing. Sharon not only inscribed each book with a personalized message, she would caringly slip the book into a perfectly fitted velum bag and then, tied a quality pink satin ribbon into a bow. Embossed on the ribbon in silver ink was the title of the book, “Flowers of the Heart” in the same style script as the book cover. Then with a smile Sharon handed each person their book and thanked them for their purchase.

Wow!!! This was most likely the best example of customer service I have ever seen in some time. Sharon could have just signed the book and handed it to the purchaser. However, she wanted to make the purchase of her book special. She wanted to differentiate herself from other authors. Sharon created a special bond between herself and the purchaser of her book similar to the bond shared between a bride and groom. The purchaser not only received a book they received an experience and a gift. This example made me wonder what ways each of us could do the same to make the experience of buying our wares or services different from our competitors?

To purchase Sharon’s book e-mail her at info@sharonmcgukin.com or follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/sharonmcgukin

My whole life has been a series of "Awe's and "Um's"

Now in a speaking sense, Toastmasters are constantly working to eliminate the unnecessary jargon that is used as filler. The “Ah’s” and “Um’s” are pseudo words used as crutches that speakers work hard to eliminate from their vocabulary. They are often used inadvertently to hold a thought or give more time when asked a question. In Toastmasters we are painfully aware of these annoying words and they are repeated back to a speaker during an evaluation by the Ah Counter at the end of a meeting. Members work diligently to use a pregnant pause rather than a filler word.

The “Awes” and “Um’s” I am referring to are those special moments in life. The events I can look back on or forward to, with reverence of that time. My marriage to my wife Kathy in San Francisco under the dome of the city hall building, the enchanting birth of my daughter Melissa, and those break-through moments when time feels as if it has stopped and everything is in slow motion. Whether it is learning something new and fantastic, viewing the majestic snow-covered peaks of the Rocky Mountains, or staring out at the vast Pacific Ocean between gently-swaying palm trees at sunset. I have had many transient instances when I am “living in the moment.”

These are the times I am aware and fully participating in life. I breathe it in deeply and hold on to it as long as I can. These are times when I experience being alive. Often in our day to day existence we just go along in our routines. What if we were to start each day and actively “Think” about having an “Awe” or “Um” moment during the day? Wouldn’t you anticipate going to work or school looking for or making happen the “Awe” for the day, or the pause when you said, “Um” and appreciate the place or situation you are in.

When I am home and working at my office in Boulder I will often take time to walk the block to a city park where the cool, snow melted water of Boulder Creek runs year-round. The park tables are often empty and the swift running water is calming. I enjoy my lunch and relax for a short while. This bit of “Awe” allows me to recharge my batteries and tackle the often thorny issues that arise during the day. A mini vacation that allows me to pause time and clear my head. “Um”

I am always looking to create a daily moment or allow it to happen and be aware of it at the time. I constantly working and planning to create exciting, new and refreshing moments of “Awe”. In business the mind is the most powerful sales tool a person has. One of the best ways I know to be successful in both business and in life is to look and create the “Awe’s” and “Um’s”. As a Toastmaster I work to eliminate the unnecessary fillers in my speech. In life, I look add more “Awe’s” and “Um’s”.

Presentations and PowerPoint

At an industry convention I recently attended I witnessed first hand how relying solely on PowerPoint can kill a presentation. The presenter was well versed on his topic. The pre-meeting promotion I read interested me. Here is where it went down hill fast. The presenter used the exact same wording in his PowerPoint as his handouts. This bored the audience to tears. The subject of the presentation was focused around an industry study with statistical material. People in the back of the room started to leave after the first few minutes. Eyes glazed over with that after lunch bloating that sets in. I felt bad for this industry expert who had the knowledge to share yet did not use the presentation or the technology to engage the audience with the passion I knew he had for the subject. I sat in the first row so I was stuck. Therefore, I used the opportunity to write notes to myself and ask how could the presenter have made this a more enjoyable experience for the audience? How could the PowerPoint technology be used to help not hurt the presentation?

First of all I would have created a structure in the PowerPoint and had some style to the presentation. One technique is to use the “Tell ‘Em” method of presenting. This begins with “Tell the audience what you are going to talk about, then Tell the audience, backing each point with facts, figures and information. Then, Tell the audience what you told them.” This would have set the stage. The presenter just jumped into the material. Images would have given a frame of reference to the audience since most folks think visually these days.

The presenter peppered stories from his experience with his own company throughout the presentation to back up the industry data. This was good, yet he could have made the stories more powerful with appropriate images that reinforced each point he was trying to make. The presenter also appeared to be anchored at the podium. To add interest the speaker could have walked around the room to connect with his audience. A remote clicker could have kept him mobile and not stuck advancing the slides. Moving around during the presentation could have kept the audience involved and awake.

Another issue was that the presenter spoke in a monotone manner throughout the entire talk. Using some vocal variety with the speech with some well place gestures would have added interest and given the listeners an opportunity to engage with the presenter. Sound bites or sound effects could have been added humor or helped make his points more vivid.

Bottom line; Technology is great, yet an interesting person with interesting information does not make for an interesting PowerPoint presentation.

Yes! We have it in that color.

A customer asked me recently if I had some way to promote my products in his store. Being in the hardgoods side of my business we do not do a lot of point of sales materials, I asked what are you looking for? The customer paused and then said, “I know you have literature and do lots of advertising in trade publications. But, I’m looking for something that my people can wear to be a reminder that we sell your product.” I sell spray color in a aerosol can.

This customer has lots of walk in traffic and is located in a terminal market with many other businesses. The customer went on to say, “so often we get people looking for a container or a prop and we don’t have it in the color they are looking for and I am constantly training my staff to get the sell no matter what. If I can help them see that we have what they need and all they have to do it spray it with your colors everyone is happy. I sell what I have in stock and the customer gets the look they need.”

This customer’s employees all were a smock to protect their clothes and have a uniformed look allowing their customers to tell that they work at the store. “Why don’t you create a button that all my folks can wear on their smocks. It could say something like, Yes we have it in that color.”

The idea was simple and the buttons were produced. An inexpensive way to help a customer get our message out and provide them with a tool that can help sell more product. Often time just letting a customer think out loud gives you an opportunity to be a hero and give them what they want. Listen and you shall hear.

Business is GREAT!!!

The idea of attraction says if you hang around successful people you have the opportunity to be successful. If you hang around smart people you have the opportunity to be smart. I believe in this idea and choose to be happy, strive for success and work at being smarter every day. Depending on how you view the preverbal glass, half full or half empty is what your customers pick up on. I choose to say business is great. Is it? You make the call.

Some businesses are booming. Guns sales are up. Adult Beverage Sales are up. Retailers like Dollar Stores and Wal-Mart are up. With every boom and bust cycle there are winners and losers, (as long as government allows the free market to work). The question I ask myself is how can my products and services be apart of the market even when the economy is down? What do I need to do to make sure my well has water in it even in a drought? Planning for these times surely helps. Being lean and efficient is a necessity. I would say that the biggest opportunity a person has is to work on is themselves. Be happy. Be positive. Be someone others wish to be around. Yea, so the news says things “suck.” Choose not to participate in the muck.

The motivational speaker, Charlie “Tremendous” Jones would say “You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.” You have to get out in the market place and meet people. Join your local Chamber of Commerce and network. Join a non-profit and give your time to a worthy cause. Become a member of an Optimist Club, Lions, Rotary or any other service organization. In time you will get known and in front of people. Give all you can of your time and energy. Volunteer for activities and be known as a happy, positive person that can get things done.

Read anything and everything you can on biographies of successful people, business, history, wealth management, psychology, political science, sports and personal development. Be interesting and knowledgeable about many topics. Listen to books on tape to and from work. Give yourself 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes at the end of the day to read and enhance your thinking. Go to lectures and attend seminars that are informative and challenging.

Business is great and only getting better everyday with a positive attitude, an investment in your future and by reading more and meeting someone new every day.

"We're too busy sir!"

We were all set up for a recent trade show in Dallas. The booth looked great. We had our new product all ready to roll out. Run through the check list one more time before the show opened. Price list - check. Literature - check. Give aways – Give aways. Oh we no we forgot the giveaways. What to do? I know. I’ll go over to the world famous coffee house with the green mermaid as it’s logo and buy some gift cards to hand out to good customers as our way of saying thanks for visiting our booth.

There is a short line and I wait a few minutes for my turn. As I move forward the line grows by a few people. It’s my turn to order. “One cup of coffee, black and twenty $10.00 gift cards please.” I am sorry sir we are too busy to do gift cards now. There is a line behind you. "Yes, I know there is a line behind me, however I want to spend $200.00 on gift cards and there are 10 people behind me that want to spend $4.00 dollars each on coffee. That’s $40.00 bucks. I need $200.00 in gift cards now.” I am sorry sir you will have to come back.” I can’t believe what I am hearing. I repeat, "I need $200.00 in gift cards now, please." Wait a moment sir. The cashier yells in a foreign language to someone in the back. A voice booms out, “Tell him we are too busy and he will have to come back.”

"You have got to be kidding. The economy is supposedly bad I want to spend $200 now and you are turning me down because the people behind me will have to wait?" What has happened to service in America? What has happened to common sense? What would you have done?

I tell you what I did. I took my business to the juice vendor down the hall. He was happy to take my money. I had several people behind me even when I asked for his gift cards. The problem for the world famous coffee house with the green mermaid as its logo is that I told everyone who came into my booth about my experience on how not to treat customers. I am telling you as you read this page. The world famous coffee house with the green mermaid had recently made a big deal about closing down for a day to retrain their staff about coffee and customer service. At least that’s what the PR department stated.

How can a local independent compete against a big corporate giant like the world famous coffee house with the green mermaid as its logo? Simple. Give the customer what they want, when they want it. Be pleasant. Be likable. And most of all, train your staff to be ready for extra business even when they are busy. Find a way to take care of good customers. Moral. Stop picking up dimes when you can pick you dollars. I now drink coffee from the golden arches and I save $2.50 a cup.

The Difference between “I” and “We”.

According to the dictionary the word “I” is the first person singular as a subject and is used by a speaker in referring to himself or herself. The word “I” provides clarity and gives the listener the knowledge of the speaker’s stance. Using the word “I” is assertive and gives a first person point of view.

The word “we” is a nominative plural of “I”. “We” refers to, you and another. ”We” can also mean on behalf of the group or persons who agree with each other. “We” can also be used as a leadership word for a nation or institution. Such as in the Preamble of our Constitution, “We the People of the United States…”

Before there can be a “we” there has to be an “I”. As I reflect on the recent election, I can see the real difference between each of the two main parties by the words they use and their ideologies. One party clearly believes in the strength of the individual and states “I believe” and “I am”. The other party clearly seeks to create and support a community by stating, “We want” and “Yes we can”.

As inclusive as it is, “we” leaves out the personal responsibility of being in command and control of ones own self. “We” relies on the collectiveness of the group and does not require or qualify the assembled. “We” creates it strength from its numbers. The beauty of the “I” is to know the strength of the individual, to know ones capabilities and ones convictions and beliefs and thereby being able to rely on ones self.

My concern is that the people who believe in the “we” are now in the position to take away all the guarantees of our constitution of individual and property rights, of free markets that can prosper under limited government and low taxes and provide for a strong national defense, so “we” can engage in the aforementioned enterprises of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Government cannot and should not give us our happiness. It should help, yet not hinder. Government should provide only that which the “I” can not do and serve the “we” where necessary, and not just when needed or wanted.

It seams people these days want to skip being “I” and want to jump right into being “we”. I wonder why? Is it too much work? Has life become so complicated? I hope not. For “we” to work, our country needs to get back to being “I’” first.