You ever get the feeling someone, somewhere, is just waitin’ for an opportunity to make you look like an idiot?

Yep; been there, my friends. The worst part about it is, I find I’m often subconsciously working in cahoots with that mysterious stranger; handing ‘em all the ammunition they need. You ever felt like that? Naah; not you.

Anyhoo, today’s thought is just that: a thought about what happens when something completely unexpected happens.

Take, f’rinstance, this scene from The Lake House I saw on TV. I mean, I’m almost positive Sandra Bullock didn’t expect anyone to paste their obtrusive advertising message across her, um, nether regions like this. And just to make it even more ironic, it happened to be this particular message!

So what do you do when, right there in front of the whole world, the unexpected happens to you?

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I was in the grocery store the other day when, turning a corner, I was greeted by a stack of those big sacks of dog food. You know the ones, right? The kind Marmaduke the Great Dane would make a light snack of.

Anyway, take note of the brand name: Old Yeller.

Well, I don’t mind tellin’ ya folks; I was a mite taken aback!

Notice the brand name just above the word “Old”. My first thought was, those folks over at the Mouse Kingdom oughtta know better! I mean, doesn’t anybody remember: the dog died at the end!

Sheesh.

Anyhoo; it made me think about how brand names, no matter how appropriate – or ridiculous – come about.

Oh, sure; most likely there had to be some sort of testing done. ( I have this vision of a room full of dogs. The tester says, “Doggie Bits”, then counts the number of barks it generates. “OK, four. Now, how about ‘Old Yeller’? Aha; 10 barks! ‘Old Yeller it is!”)

Awright; maybe they were people instead of dogs. But I gotta wonder; did anyone in that group ever see the movie? Most likely, if they were from my generation they probably did. But younger folk may not have – and subsequently not know about the sad – and if you’re a kid, rather traumatic – ending.

Who would want to remember that every time they fed their faithful family pet? It’s kinda like sayin’, “Here ya go, Rufus; eat up, ’cause tomorrow you die!”

What about it? Anyone else thinkin’ the same way as me, or am I, er, barkin’ up the wrong tree? (Sorry.)

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Photo: Old Yeller Dog Food, by Robert Hruzek

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[Note from the Proprietor: This is one of an ongoing series of posts called Scenes From a Sidewalk. Want to know what it's all about? Follow that link to read the series introduction.]

OK; pop test time! Hey, don’t worry; this one’s easy.

A little lower down in this post there’s a photo I want you to look at (click on it for a larger view if you like). Which car would you say is the most obvious one in this parking lot? (Note: if your answer was NOT “the red one”, then thanks for playing, and here’s some lovely imaginary parting gifts.)

So what does a car have to do with anything? Well…

Uh-Oh

So here’s the scene:

It’s a recent Monday morning. My boss called three of us into his office. We sat down, and he immediately gave us the unexpected news: We were to be cycled off our project at the end of the month to meet our client’s new cost reduction goals. (Once again, our troubled economy rears up its ugly head and bites us in the, er, nether regions.)

Needless to say, this was a mite unexpected, since my part of our project isn’t due to be finished until May at the earliest. I mean, sure the biz was not as robust as it used to be, but up until this moment, I had been concerned – but not really worried.

Now, all engineering firms essentially operate the same way: folks are assigned to a specific project (or projects) for a finite length of time. When the project is complete, we cycle off and are reassigned to the next project that needs our particular skill set. (It’s called a matrix organization, in case you’re wondering. And no, we don’t all wear long leather coats, dark glasses, and live in a virtual world.)

Anyway, my first thought was, OK, fine; so what’s my next assignment? And that’s when the other shoe dropped (sound of other shoe, dropping). When I called my department manager, I was unpleasantly surprised to discover there are no available openings!

That’s right folks; at the end of this month, I may be out of a job!

On Being Outstanding

Well now! To quote that great American Philosopher, Jimmy Stewart (or maybe it was Elmer Fudd), “Now THAT’S a fine how do ya do!”

Having been on the receiving end of the, er, Golden Boot more than a few times in my career (I used to do a lot of contract work – which usually concludes with the phrase, “Thank you very much; goodbye!”), the situation is not an unfamiliar one. So I know what to do: polish up the resume, fire up the networking skills, and hit the pavement!

But there’s a problem. Instead of a job market filled with opportunity, I’ve suddenly become one of many who are in the same lifeboat. And that boat’s only so big, y’know?

Anyway, what with the economy in such flux lately, and the job pipelines suddenly bein’ flooded with resumes, well, a thought suddenly hit me (sound of dull thud). Question: Amid the zillions of folks out there clamoring for attention, what’s the best way to, y’know, get noticed?

Answer: Figure out how to be outstanding! And I don’t mean out standing in your field (unless, of course, you’re a professional scarecrow).

Now the phrase “get noticed” has both negative and positive connotations. And it certainly pays to make sure you know the difference. After all, I’m not advocating you dress up in a clown suit and parade around on the corner of Main and 5^th with a poster proclaiming “I need work!” (Unless you’re a professional clown, of course.) But I think you get my meanin’, right?

Anyhoo – I certainly have a challenge in front of me. But my question for you is this: So what are you doin’ to get noticed?

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Photo: Parking Lot, by Robert Hruzek

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Great news, y’all!

Finally, and after much sweat, tears, anguish and gnashing of teeth (yuck; who comes up with these disgusting metaphors, anyway?), the final 2008 Age of Conversation author list has finally been finalized! What’s more, it’s going to be even bigger and better than last year’s version: there are 237 of us this time (as opposed to 103 in the original 2007 edition).

Do yourself a favor and check these folks’ blogs out. You might be surprised and impressed by what you find:

Adrian Ho, Aki Spicer, Alex Henault, Amy Jussel, Andrew Odom, Andy Nulman, Andy Sernovitz, Andy Whitlock, Angela Maiers, Ann Handley, Anna Farmery, Armando Alves, Arun Rajagopal, Asi Sharabi, Becky Carroll, Becky McCray, Bernie Scheffler, Bill Gammell, Bob LeDrew, Brad Shorr, Brandon Murphy, Branislav Peric, Brent Dixon, Brett Macfarlane, Brian Reich, C.C. Chapman, Cam Beck, Casper Willer, Cathleen Rittereiser, Cathryn Hrudicka, Cedric Giorgi, Charles Sipe, Chris Kieff, Chris Cree, Chris Wilson, Christina Kerley (CK), C.B. Whittemore, Chris Brown, Connie Bensen, Connie Reece, Corentin Monot, Craig Wilson, Daniel Honigman, Dan Schawbel, Dan Sitter, Daria Radota Rasmussen, Darren Herman, Dave Davison, David Armano, David Berkowitz, David Koopmans, David Meerman Scott, David Petherick, David Reich, David Weinfeld, David Zinger, Deanna Gernert, Deborah Brown, Dennis Price, Derrick Kwa, Dino Demopoulos, Doug Haslam, Doug Meacham, Doug Mitchell, Douglas Hanna, Douglas Karr, Drew McLellan, Duane Brown, Dustin Jacobsen, Dylan Viner, Ed Brenegar, Ed Cotton, Efrain Mendicuti, Ellen Weber, Eric Peterson, Eric Nehrlich, Ernie Mosteller, Faris Yakob, Fernanda Romano, Francis Anderson, Gareth Kay, Gary Cohen, Gaurav Mishra, Gavin Heaton, Geert Desager, George Jenkins, G.L. Hoffman, Gianandrea Facchini, Gordon Whitehead, Greg Verdino, Gretel Going & Kathryn Fleming, Hillel Cooperman, Hugh Weber, J. Erik Potter, James Gordon-Macintosh, Jamey Shiels, Jasmin Tragas, Jason Oke, Jay Ehret, Jeanne Dininni, Jeff De Cagna, Jeff Gwynne & Todd Cabral, Jeff Noble, Jeff Wallace, Jennifer Warwick, Jenny Meade, Jeremy Fuksa, Jeremy Heilpern, Jeroen Verkroost, Jessica Hagy, Joanna Young, Joe Pulizzi, John Herrington, John Moore, John Rosen, John Todor, Jon Burg, Jon Swanson, Jonathan Trenn, Jordan Behan, Julie Fleischer, Justin Foster, Karl Turley, Kate Trgovac, Katie Chatfield, Katie Konrath, Kenny Lauer, Keri Willenborg, Kevin Jessop, Kristin Gorski, Lewis Green, Lois Kelly, Lori Magno, Louise Manning, Luc Debaisieux, Mario Vellandi, Mark Blair, Mark Earls, Mark Goren, Mark Hancock, Mark Lewis, Mark McGuinness, Matt Dickman, Matt J. McDonald, Matt Moore, Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Michelle Lamar, Mike Arauz, Mike McAllen, Mike Sansone, Mitch Joel, Neil Perkin, Nettie Hartsock, Nick Rice, Oleksandr Skorokhod, Ozgur Alaz, Paul Chaney, Paul Hebert, Paul Isakson, Paul McEnany, Paul Tedesco, Paul Williams, Pet Campbell, Pete Deutschman, Peter Corbett, Phil Gerbyshak, Phil Lewis, Phil Soden, Piet Wulleman, Rachel Steiner, Sreeraj Menon, Reginald Adkins, Richard Huntington, Rishi Desai, Robert Hruzek, Roberta Rosenberg, Robyn McMaster, Roger von Oech, Rohit Bhargava, Ron Shevlin, Ryan Barrett, Ryan Karpeles, Ryan Rasmussen, Sam Huleatt, Sandy Renshaw, Scott Goodson, Scott Monty, Scott Townsend, Scott White, Sean Howard, Sean Scott, Seni Thomas, Seth Gaffney, Shama Hyder, Sheila Scarborough, Sheryl Steadman, Simon Payn, Sonia Simone, Spike Jones, Stanley Johnson, Stephen Collins, Stephen Landau, Stephen Smith, Steve Bannister, Steve Hardy, Steve Portigal, Steve Roesler, Steven Verbruggen, Steve Woodruff, Sue Edworthy, Susan Bird, Susan Gunelius, Susan Heywood, Tammy Lenski, Terrell Meek, Thomas Clifford, Thomas Knoll, Tim Brunelle, Tim Connor, Tim Jackson, Tim Mannveille, Tim Tyler, Timothy Johnson, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, Toby Bloomberg, Todd Andrlik, Troy Rutter, Troy Worman, Uwe Hook, Valeria Maltoni, Vandana Ahuja, Vanessa DiMauro, Veronique Rabuteau, Wayne Buckhanan, William Azaroff, Yves Van Landeghem

Now, unlike some authors (I won’t mention any *ahem* names), I will NOT give you a sneak preview of the chapter I wrote. Nope; you’ll have to buy the book (hey, it’s for Charity, after all).

On the other hand, I can’t very well leave you hangin’ now, can I? So for your edification, I’ll let you see it as a Wordle image:

OK, it’s time for my semi-sortof annual post on the subject of Marketing.

Now, before I go on, I just want to go on record as saying that I’ll be the first to admit this post constitutes something of a rant. For that I apologize; I’m not usually given to rants here at the Zone. Musings, now… well, musings is what we do best around here.

<rant>

Out to Lunch

I went out to lunch the other day (and yes, I’m aware that some of you may think I’m always out to lunch) at a local beanery. Next door was a national chain drugstore with one of those fancy new computer-controlled marquee-thingies out front.

You’ve seen ‘em, right? They’re similar to the new scoreboard screens you see at sports events; except of course they don’t display the play of the day but a constantly-changing series of whatever are the day’s specials.

Prices are such that, immediately upon seeing said incredibly unbelievable prices, you are expected to cut across 5 lanes of traffic, slide perfectly into a parking slot like a Hollywood stunt driver, and rush breathlessly into the store to make the purchase.

You’ve gotta wonder, though, how successful these things actually are in pulling in customers. I mean, if it were me, for instance, a killer price on a gallon of milk, or 5 cents for a 10-pack of batteries wouldn’t entice me to stop (well, maybe that one for batteries might).

Now I just know you’re sitting there and asking yourself, “OK, Smart Guy; why not?” (Amazing how I can read your minds like that, isn’t it? Oh, and thanks for the complement!)

I Really Hate These Things

What I absolutely hate the most about these things is that nearly every one are so bright I’m afraid of exposure to dangerously high UV levels! Hey, you can call me obstinate (heck; you can call me Steve if you like – I don’t mind), but immediately upon noticing one of these things, my initial and automatic response is to avert my eyes lest I be struck with temporary blindness.

Thus, any possible message about tremendous savings are lost on me. (But I don’t know; it seems to me this might make for some interesting lawsuits, don’t you think?)

Also, and because I’m, you know, driving several thousand pounds of motor vehicle, there’s a limited amount of time for me to read the day’s specials anyway. Let’s say it takes approximately 10-15 seconds to drive by a given sign, and each item is displayed for about 4 seconds. So even if plenty of things might actually be worth my while to make a special stop and purchase, how would I know? I’m not likely to see them.

So I ask you: is such a sign really worth it? After all, since I can only see two, or at most or three items, then what are the odds a particular item would be of interest? (Sound of buzzer) Not bloody likely, I’ll tell you!

And speaking of driving by, here’s another obvious fact: in order for me to read the sign, I have to take my eyes off the road. Now, I don’t know about where you live, but in Houston traffic, if I do that for more than a second or two you’re likely to have to scrape me and my car off a light pole or something!

(Not that I’m a bad driver, mind you; it’s just the way it is here. Continuously keeping your eyes on the road is pretty much a requirement for survival.)

Finally, there’s the chance the message will get, well, lost in translation. As I watched this particular sign, I did notice one message that kinda caught my eye (Augh! My eye! My eye!) The first line (it was a two-line display) read, “Downy Fabric Softener”. The second line went, “Buy 1, Get 1″.

Urk?

Hmmm… I wonder if part of the message got left off – like, for instance, the word “Free”? I mean, after all; if you “buy 1″, then it stands to reason you’d probably, er, “get 1″ don’t you think?

What I Learned From…

So what’s the point of this rant, anyway? I have no ideaHey, I’m glad you asked! Here’s what came to mind as I pondered this, um, “sign of the times” (sound of rimshot; sorry, couldn’t resist):

First of all, to understand any of what I’m about to tell you, you must take as a given that we are all marketers. You do understand that point, right? Nod your heads, please (sound of creaky joints). Thank you. OK; here’s just a few points, observations, conclusions, or whatever (in no particular order):

It’s better to specifically target your message – Broadcasting a message for the whole world to see, in the hopes that the numbers game will work for you is IMHO an enormous waste of time and resources. Now, I happen to know these signs aren’t cheap (I know someone who makes them). So once again I ask you: what are the odds of enough people being attracted by this sign enticed to spend their money that the store can even come close to the cost of upkeep, utility use and permitting; not to mention the initial cost of the sign? Smart marketers know the most efficient use of their budget is to target the message to their particular market.

Make word-of-mouth work for you, not against you – I know there are plenty of marketers out there that believe the point of advertising is getting people to talk, good or bad, about their product. But I’m here to tell ya (and trust me; I won’t be the last to do so!): the risk of turning potential customers off – or even worse – turning them into negative evangelists is exceedingly high when what you’re doing irritates the fire out of ‘em! If your message rubs people the wrong way, you could end up being the talk of the town, and NOT in a good way.

Don’t be ridiculous! – OK; I admit I may have exaggerated just a teensy little bit about the whole bright sign/looking away thing. But it’s happened before. Folks around Houston still remember the giant Pepsi logo (it was about 25 feet in diameter and elevated nearly 70 feet high) that used to reside off Hiway 225 near Gulfgate. Honest truth here: it was bad enough during the day, but at night it was so incredibly bright it literally hurt your eyes as it flashed on and off every few seconds. Sure, the message got out: Buy Pepsi. But the message received was completely different: BUY PEPSI, YOU MORONS! Try to put yourself in the customer’s place and see how they would react to your message, your product, and especially your presentation.

OK, granted I’m no marketer (except, you know, as defined above). But these things seem so self-evident to me; how can marketers not see it? Yet sadly, there’s an entire world of examples out there about how NOT to do it right.

</rant>

So how about you? What’s your take on this? Have you run across any obtrusive and/or blatant marketing or advertising that you’re convinced will (or at least, you kinda hope it will) kill the company that does it?

We interrupt our regularly scheduled program to bring you this news flash…

Last year Drew McClellan and Gavin Heaton made publishing history, producing the first-ever e-book of its kind, The Age of Conversation. Having been accidentally mistaken for a marketer, I was privileged to be one of 103 authors who contributed a chapter. (Limited to 400 words! Can you imagine me limiting myself to 400 words on anything?)

Now a hard copy of AoC sits proudly on my bookshelf, gathering admiring glances from the Beautiful, the Powerful, and the Glitterati who come to visit.

I’m tellin’ ya, it required an incredible amount of behind-the-scenes work, herding over 100 writers into line (sorta like herding cats, no doubt), cutting, pasting, editing, pulling hair, sobbing uncontrollably at the drop of a hat… But I think all would agree Drew and Gavin did a great job (even though SOMEbody changed my chapter title! *sob*).

The end result was spectacular. Not only has the book gained international attention, sales of the book at lulu.com (and hopefully, soon to be available at Amazon.com) have to date earned over $10,000 for Variety, a children’s charity. Now there’s something to be proud of!

Well, the news just broke this week, and unbelievably, these two crazy people nut jobs fine upstanding fellows want to do it again! (Sound of crowd going wild with excitement!)

And YOU are invited to help. How, you ask? Simple!

Go to this website and read all about it. And in the spirit of an election year, you even get to vote!

I know you often think about keeping your customers happy – and you’re right to do so. But have you ever thought about the opposite?

I mean, do your customers appreciate what you provide so much that they would be willing to sacrifice just so they could stay your customer? Would they be upset if you went out of business?

In the past, it wasn’t unusual for the drafting rooms of a few of the larger engineering firms here in Houston to be basically just drafty old warehouses, or whatever else happened to be available. In fact, the biggest firm (this was many years ago) used an old remodeled aircraft hanger that was affectionately (or disparagingly, depending on your point of view) called The Barn.

Now close your eyes and imagine with me, if you will, row upon seemingly endless row of men (yes, men – in those days there were very few, if any, female drafters), in white short-sleeved shirts and ties, pocket protectors jammed full, all hunched over their drafting tables, laboriously designing the infrastructure of modern day society. (OK, that last may be a bit melodramatic. But it’s still true – most of the stuff those guys engineered back then is still for the most part functioning just fine today, thank you very much!)

Quick question: What is it that keeps all engineering offices fully functional? Nope, not computers (sound of buzzer) - the idea of using a computer was laughable back then. Uh-uh – it’s not electricity either (again, sound of buzzer – followed by sound of hammer repeatedly hitting buzzer); you can still function pretty well in the dark, you know. Hey, you finally got it (sound of cheering): it’s coffee! (Except, of course, in Asia where it’s probably tea.)

According to legend (as told to me by someone who worked there at the time) there was this young woman at The Barn whose job was to keep the coffee flowing freely all day long. She was a sweet girl, naturally gregarious (which is a ten-dollar word for “friendly and easy-going”), and very well-liked (after all, she provided coffee - the lifeblood of drafting rooms everywhere).

(Yes, I know. The idea of a young woman’s choice of career being spent serving coffee to hundreds of men is largely passé now. Try not to judge this story by today’s standards – remember this was a while back.)

Well, one day she came to work unusually depressed, and within a few minutes, word got out that she had been laid off. The news spread like wildfire; talk about your angry mob (sound of angry rabble) – it nearly started a riot! I mean, you would have thought the entire drafting floor had been closed for business.

However, as luck would have it, this was a room full of *ahem* engineers - if anybody could come up with a solution, they could, right? Right (sound of more cheering)!

So here’s what happened.

Coffee had always been free. Now, however, the company had announced plans to install automatic coffeemakers (something fairly new at the time), which is why they didn’t need the young lady to serve coffee any more. Coffee would still be free, but the downside was that the men would have to *gasp* make their own coffee! The situation was intolerable (sound of disgruntled murmuring)!

Suddenly Aero, the Superhero Engineer a couple of the more enterprising fellows whipped out their trusty slide rules (hey, why use pencil and paper when you can use a slide rule! Who says engineers don’t rock!) and quickly calculated that if every man in the room chipped in just a few dollars per week, they could actually match her former salary!

So they offered her the deal and she quickly agreed. Voila! Problem solved! The universe as we know it was saved, and the heavens rejoiced. (In fact, I think the clouds actually parted and a particularly bright sunbeam shone down on the building at that specific moment. Or so they say.)

OK, now let’s consider what happened from a business point of view.

This woman’s “business” was being shut down, because the company found a cheaper way to provide the same product (the coffee, in case you’re having trouble following along). Her “customers” got so upset about her losing her business that they were willing to pay money to keep her in business!

It wasn’t that they couldn’t get coffee. No, it was the service - or more accurately, it was the whole routine of coffee with personal service and interaction she provided that they couldn’t get anywhere else.

So here’s the sixty-four dollar question: Do your customers feel that way about you?

After all, it ain’t just customer service any more; these days it’s customer experience.

… what would it look like, and why? Even better, what would you WANT it to look like?

Interesting questions, don’t you think? Thought-provoking, profound and personally revealing – all at the same time. The perfect “get to know you” question. If you’ve been around the internet for any length of time, I know you’ve run across (or been tagged already) with one of those too-numerous-to-count memes: 1,000,000 Things About Me, 88 Random Things About Me, 500 Things About Me You Didn’t Want To Know But I’ll Tell You Anyway… or, well, something like that.

Now don’t get me wrong; I do enjoy finding out stuff about folks I read because it helps morph them from just pixels on a screen into actual three-dimensional people. But let’s face it; those are just words.

Yesterday’s post about plans, construction sites and buildings got me to thinking (in case you were wondering about that grinding noise) about what I’d like my life to look like if it were a building. Think of it as a branding question: What would your building say about you?

So how about some Friday fun?

Since most of us are visually-oriented anyway (sound of light bulb switching on), I thought to myself, “Hey! Rather than just telling us about yourself, why not show us instead?” (And I’m not even from Missouri!)

OK, I’ll start. Back when I was working in Las Vegas, I ran across this one:

For me, it would have to be the New York, New York Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. When I first saw it, I was literally mesmerized (sound of me, mesmerized). How on Earth did they manage to mind-meld so many different styles into one single building (and without a Vulcan in sight!)? It is absolutely incredible; not just from an architectural and construction standpoint, but to the senses as well.

Here’s why I would use this structure as “my” building:

1. Authentic. (Here’s one for you, Joanna!) I’ve never been to the actual New York, but it definitely gives you a genuine feel for the place. This was confirmed repeatedly by many I met there who had been to New York. If there’s anything I’d like my life to be, it’s authentic.
2. Consistent. Both inside and out, the entire place screams NEW YORK CITY! From the scale model of the Statue of Liberty on the outside to the choice of food vendors inside, it’s completely focused on giving you a feel for the real thing. The other half of the coin of authenticity is consistency.
3. Proud. Not as in arrogant; no, I’m talking about standing tall and willing to be noticed. The thing is, there are a lot of hotels in Las Vegas you never heard of, but this one is willing to be a focus of attention – a landmark, even. Are you willing to stand out from the crowd and be unique?
4. Whimsical. Defined as determined by impulse or whim rather than by necessity or reason, this seems to describe the overall look perfectly. I found it interesting that the World Trade Center building was shorter than the Empire State Building. It was an opportunity for the designers to emphasize what really says “New York” to most people. Taking a relaxed and sometimes whimsical view of life gives you the opportunity to see things you’d miss otherwise.
5. Serious. Hey, this is one of THE major money makers on the Strip. Big business for sure. And I’m not admiring the casino, or any specific part of it; it’s that I admire the great job the management team does: they know who they are they and do it well. Know your stuff, and be able to do it so well you don’t have to spend all your time on it. That way you can stop every now and then and have -
6. Fun. Notice the roller coaster surrounding the entire structure? That is one fun ride, especially at night! Gotta enjoy life!
7. Hospitable. Hey, the place is a hotel, after all, and the idea of hospitality resonates with me. I mean, I would like to be known as a hospitable guy, ready with a cup of coffee or cold drink if you need one, maybe a place to draw up a chair, have a seat and take a load off… (and hey, maybe even a Klondike bar or bowl of Blue Bell Banana Pudding Ice Cream – and yes, it deserves the Capitals).

(Oh, and by the way, if this building truly represented my life as I’d like it to be – I’d leave out the casino, and relocate the whole thing someplace else! Sin City is aptly named…)

Hey, this was fun! So what about you? What kind of building would you like to represent your life? Not necessarily your actual life, mind you, I’m talking about what you’d like your life to be. (Let’s leave some room for dreams and goals here.)

Hmmm, let’s see now… who to tag, who to tag? OK, how about:

Joanna Young at Confident Writing
Troy Worman at Orbit Now!
Liz Strauss at Successful Blog
Dawud Miracle at Healthy Web Design
Pete Aldin at Great Circle

Got a great response for this question? If you read this post, consider yourself tagged, my friends; no need to sit around waiting for a tap on the shoulder! Go for it! (And p.s., don’t forget to link here so I can capture them all in a wrap-up post later.)

How do you accomplish really big audacious goals? Hey, that’s easy – break it into lots of little ones, of course!

Hmmm… it seems to me I’ve mentioned before about the network marketing business I’ve recently gotten into, right? (Sound of groans from the audience.) Well, one key concept to success in our NM business can be nicely summed up by this phrase: it’s not what you do; it’s what you… start.

It simply means that eventual success is built upon your initial actions.

OK class, what that translates to for our particular NM business is two-fold, and can be summed up as follows: first, each Associate finds 10 customers, then signs up 3 Associates and teaches them to do the same. We call this the Power Unit (has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?), and completing it is the gateway to earning residual income from all customers that subsequently sign up in the Associate’s downline (which is all Associates below them in the organization).

As with all NM businesses, it works by duplication, and over time it can add up to quite a large number of Associates and customers in your downline. (Just as a for instance, the group leader we’re under has over 3,100 Associates and well over 10,000 customers in his downline after working the business about 28 months.) So, as each Associate does exactly the same thing, then incredible things can happen!

Anyway, the other day I called a friend of mine in order to invite him to become one of my Associates, only to discover he’d been in the business for about two years already (Ignite has been in business since March of 2005). But here’s the thing – he was no longer actively doing anything at all with it. In fact, the sum total of what he’d done was to sign up one single Associate – and then he stopped. No customers, no more Associates. Done. Finis. End of Story.

About a year and a half passed.

By the time I got around to calling him, he hadn’t even thought about it in quite a while. He had no idea what had developed in his downline, so after we talked, he began to do some checking.

Remember that one Associate he signed up? Well, he made the astonishing discovery that  his downline now consisted of an organization of 214 Associates! Whoa Nellie! Can you believe it? Here my friend was, down in the dumps because he felt he wasn’t accomplishing anything – only to find out a large dynamic organization was being built below him – not because of what he was doing, but because of what he… started!

You want to know the sad part? Because he never completed his Power Unit (10 customers and 3 Associates) he hasn’t qualified to earn the residual income from all the customers those 214 Associates in his downline have signed up! No core team – no income. He’s missing out on hundreds, and eventually thousands of dollars of passive, residual income every single month – just because he got discouraged and quit!

OK, here’s the thing.

You got some goals, perhaps even big, audacious goals you want to achieve? Sometimes, after the thrill of coming up with them starts to wane, you find yourself looking at them and thinking, “Now how am I going to accomplish this thing, anyway?”

Of course the answer is to break it down into smaller, more achievable steps, then focus on accomplishing those instead. That way the big, final goal becomes the inspiration for all the little ones along the way.

Plus, each little goal, when successfully attained, gives you progressively more confidence, making it that much easier to make it to the next step. Consistent, along-the-way encouragement plus a big picture vision will propel you forward far more than just the vision alone, no matter how wonderful it is.

When you get right down to it, success in any endeavor is pretty much built in the same way. Remember that phrase I mentioned at the beginning of this article?

It’s not what you do; it’s what you… start!

OK, this isn’t really an entry in this month’s What I Learned From… project. It just kinda came to me. (Hey, it’s my blog and I can do what I want.)

Normally, I don’t think about the subject of branding much, but here’s a little something that recently tiptoed across my unsuspecting cortex in pink fuzzy slippers… (Why pink fuzzy slippers, you ask? I’ll quote Leslie Neilsen: “Because I like the way they make me feel.”)

Uh, where was I? Oh, yes -

The other day in my work carpool, two of us got into a somewhat zany conversation about old movies and TV shows. It was a lot of fun reminiscing about old shows like “Dukes of Hazzard”, “Lost in Space”, or “Mission Impossible” (not the ridiculously idiotic movies, but the brilliantly original TV show).

But the thing that we ended up talking about most wasn’t some “gripping police drama”. Nor was it yet another in the seemingly endless series of what are laughingly referred to as “reality shows” (I mean, c’mon folks – this is reality?)

No, we ended up laughing the most about that old Batman TV series starring Adam West as the Head Bat. Talk about a silly show! Better than any Simpsons episode, I’ll tell ya! (OK, I’m aware that I’m giving away a lot here, but what the heck – it was bound to come out sooner or later.)

Anyway, despite the proliferation of Batman movies (and assorted Batmans, for that matter – or is it Batmen?) that have hit the big screen over the last few decades, in my mind nothing beats the old TV show. Why? Well, because when I turned on the TV, I knew I’d be entertained – simple as that. I knew what to expect, I looked forward to it, and the show always delivered. In a word, it was consistent.

For instance, invariably at some time during each episode, both Batman and Robin will be seen walking up the side of a building using a rope (well actually, it was painfully obvious the camera was turned on its side – but that’s what made it so funny), and inevitably some well-known TV or movie star would stick their head out the window and initiate some inane conversation with the caped crusaders. This little vignette turned out to be one of the highlights of the show – you just never knew who would pop out.

But for me, one of the silliest things (among literally hundreds of them) the show’s producers did was make sure everything had the “bat-” prefix. You remember the Batmobile, of course. But then there were also the Bat Boat, the Batcycle, Bat Copter, Bat Plane, Bat Phone, Bat Suit (and I have no doubt whatsoever, Bat Shorts) – the list went on and on.

It applied to actions as well as things, too. Once, when Batman and Robin were tearing down a road in the Batmobile and had to make a sudden turn, Batman turns to his trusty sidekick and says, “Prepare for Bat-turn, Robin!”

And who could ever forget the Bat Rope, a piece of regular ol’ rope prominently labeled “Bat Rope” visible for TV viewers to see. (I always imagined an entire industrial complex out there somewhere, producing all these wonderful toys, something like Wile E. Coyote’s mysterious supplier, “Acme”.)

But amid the BIFFs, POWs, and OOFs that speckled the screen whenever a fight broke out (at least once per episode, guaranteed), after all these years, there is one thing that stands out to me, and it’s a great lesson that has truly stood the test of time.

One thing that old show (and for that matter the entire Batman franchise) demonstrated well was the process of BRANDING. Yep, that’s a fact, my friend. Whatever else you might say about Bat Man and the whole Bat “Thing”, boy did they have branding down to a science! I mean, when a plain old piece of rope got branded with the Bat Brand, it became something special – no longer just a rope, but an essential piece of crime-fighting equipment!

So, the next time you think about branding, I just have this simple advice: Take a Bat Lesson from the masters!

Perhaps you’ve already heard the news, but this week (Monday, actually) a new book, The Age of Conversation, went on sale amid quite a bit of hoopla and fanfare (cue the fireworks; cue the band).

In case you missed it, The Age of Conversation is the brainchild of ace marketers Drew McClellan and Gavin Heaton. A great testimonial of how an idea can be turned into something far greater than the sum of its parts, the book is a compendium of 103 authors (which by the way includes yours truly), each with a single page of content. As the book’s cover declares, what we have here is a book with many voices, but one conversation.

Already there has been some considerable fanfare along with articles in several large publications; other media are beginning to take notice as well. On the book’s dedicated website you’ll find everything you might ever want to know, including how the idea developed, the list of incredible authors, and how to buy your copies (available in three formats: e-book, paperback, and hardcover).

Still not sure you’re interested? Try this one on for size: Steve Woodruff at Sticky Figure is writing a series of posts with brief excerpts from each entry. Check ‘em out!

Just for fun, you can also check this Google map for the worldwide locations of all authors. And, don’t miss the fact that not one author, including both Drew and Gavin, makes a penny off this endeavor; all proceeds go to Variety, the children’s charity.

Nevertheless, I’d like to take a moment to publicly thank my fellow authors for participating in what Drew and Gavin promise to be an annual event. A tip o’ the hat to y’all!

Gavin Heaton
Drew McLellan
CK
Valeria Maltoni
Emily Reed
Katie Chatfield
Greg Verdino
Mack Collier
Lewis Green
Sacrum
Ann Handley
Mike Sansone
Paul McEnany
Roger von Oech
Anna Farmery
David Armano
Bob Glaza
Mark Goren
Matt Dickman
Scott Monty
Richard Huntington
Cam Beck
David Reich
Luc Debaisieux
Sean Howard
Tim Jackson
Patrick Schaber
Roberta Rosenberg
Uwe Hook
Tony D. Clark
Todd Andrlik
Toby Bloomberg
Steve Woodruff
Steve Bannister
Steve Roesler
Stanley Johnson
Spike Jones
Nathan Snell
Simon Payn
Ryan Rasmussen
Ron Shevlin
Roger Anderson
Robert Hruzek
Rishi Desai
Phil Gerbyshak
Peter Corbett
Pete Deutschman
Nick Rice
Nick Wright
Michael Morton
Mark Earls
Mark Blair
CB Whittemore
Mario Vellandi
Lori Magno
Kristin Gorski
Kris Hoet
G. Kofi Annan
Kimberly Dawn Wells
Karl Long
Julie Fleischer
Jordan Behan
John La Grou
Joe Raasch
Jim Kukral
Jessica Hagy
Janet Green
Jamey Shiels
Dr. Graham Hill
Gia Facchini
Geert Desager
Gaurav Mishra
Gary Schoeniger
Gareth Kay
Faris Yakob
Emily Clasper
Ed Cotton
Dustin Jacobsen
Tom Clifford
David Polinchock
David Koopmans
David Brazeal
David Berkowitz
Carolyn Manning
Craig Wilson
Cord Silverstein
Connie Reece
Colin McKay
Chris Newlan
Chris Corrigan
Cedric Giorgi
Brian Reich
Becky Carroll
Arun Rajagopal
Andy Nulman
Amy Jussel
AJ James
Kim Klaver
Sandy Renshaw
Susan Bird
Ryan Barrett
Troy Worman
S. Neil Vineberg
C.B. Whittemore

Perhaps you remember my mentioning an upcoming e-book called The Age of Conversation? (My chapter is titled “Bridges“.) Well, the release date is coming soon – Monday, July 16th in fact! (Cue the fireworks!)

I’ll tell ya, Drew McLellan and Gavin Heaton have truly done a heroic amount of organizing, proofing, collaborating, and just plain hard work to put this thing together. What’s more, every single penny raised will be going to charity!

Pretty cool, eh? Not bad, guys; not bad at all!

As the week progresses, there will be more information released on next week’s launch. For the time being, though, check out Drew’s Marketing Minute for a sneak peek at the cover. (Well, OK; it’s the same cover pictured here. But there’s also info about prices, how the book was originated; the author list; and much more. Check it out!)

I bring you this important, potentially life-changing question as a direct result of reading yesterday’s post by BL Ochman (I’ve always wondered – is that “B.L.” or “BL”?) at Marketing Profs Daily Fix. It’s a funny little story told her by Gerlinde Puchas about a canned ham commercial she did that illustrates something I’ve experience myself. It’s a quick read (30 seconds, tops) and here’s BL’s concluding statement:

“These days, I often tell clients that story when I introduce ideas about new media marketing. I warn them: ‘OK, here comes a canned ham idea. I know it doesn’t apply exactly to your business. Please think about the concept.’ It often helps to open their minds to new ways of looking at marketing.”

It’s what I call experience bias, and here’s how I became a victim:

Way back in the shrouded mists of yesteryear, when I worked as a Piping Designer (that was back when engineering drawings were produced by hand instead of computer – imagine that!), I remember encountering the same kind of thing whenever facing the prospect of looking for a new job. (As a contract employee I was constantly in “search” mode.) The job description usually included a key word or two about the project, something like “refinery”, “chemicals”, or “amusement park” (I really saw that one once), and the recruiters often used that as a way to filter out the sometimes overwhelming number of resumes they had to evaluate.

It was up to us job-seekers to find ways to get past those filters – sometimes using, shall we say, “creative” language on our resumes. (Once, a company I worked for circulated a request for Piping Designers with Pharmaceutical or Brewery experience. On seeing this, my co-worker asked, “I drink a six-pack a day and do drugs – does that count?”)

I remember applying for a job on a mining project (which I’d never done before), and the recruiter asked me if I had any mining experience. Now at the time, jobs were becoming rather difficult to find. After a long and fruitless search, I have to admit I was so frustrated I just couldn’t help myself. I replied with the following response: “Well, no. But what’s so different about it? After all, pipe is round, and water flows downhill. What more do I need to know?”

I know, it was a stupid thing to say. Needless to say, I didn’t get the job (but at least I can snicker about it now). Since then, I’ve had the opportunity to work on a great variety of projects, from small ones (a few thousand $$$) to megas (billions of $$$), and they include refineries, chemicals, semiconductors, automobiles, insecticides, plastics, power – well, you get the idea.

We’ve all faced similar constraints, I’m sure – times where you find yourself being held back by what you’ve done before. Frustrating, isn’t it? But rather than simply accept those limitations, try using your experience, as BL did, to build a lever that might just open that door.

So while I still heard the same questions from recruiters, in many cases I was able to use a variation of BL’s approach: I’ve demonstrated my ability to take experience X and use it for experience Y. Many times, it was enough to get past the gatekeeper to the actual hiring authority, and I got the job.

Her point (if I may be so bold, BL) is that it’s up to you to help others see your experience, not as a limiter, but as a facilitator of your potential. Dont’ you hate it when someone does that to you? (And by the way, don’t do it to someone else, either.)

During our recent move we had to deal with a multitude of vendors and contractors, with varying degrees of satisfaction and/or success. From this experience, both Mrs. MZM and I had an amazing range of customer relations experiences, but today I’ll share just a couple of stories. Perhaps we can all learn something.

All you sales and marketing folks out there take note! In spite of the best-laid plans and the best of intentions, always remember the Golden Rule of Project Management: Sometimes Things Just Happen (STJH). The key thought is that when they do (anyone remember Murphy?), your customer’s service experience becomes a true defining moment. We, your customers, can be convinced to forgive and forget, but it’s up to you to make the experience a positive one.

Kitchen Cabinets

The kitchen cabinets were improperly finished (unless you call “sandpaper” a finish) and needed to be resurfaced. This was brought to the builder’s attention, but one day when visiting the house during construction we encountered the local regional manager for the cabinet manufacturer, who was also inspecting them. He was appalled at the workmanship (I’m shocked, just shocked!) and promised to make it right by sending several of the worst cabinet doors back to the shop, and then within the week, bringing in his “best man” to refinish the cabinets on the spot.

True to his promise, the cabinets were all refinished and several doors replaced, all within the promised timeframe. Our dealings with the company were pleasant, productive, and they did what they promised. In the midst of the moving madness, this was one of the things that ended well. (Of course, it would have been nice if they were done right the first time, but as previously observed, STJH.)

Sofa and Chair

As a rule, we never buy anything we can’t see, touch or feel before bringing it home. The only exception in recent years was our new sofa and chair, since we had to select the fabric for each. This is always something of a risk because from past experience getting refunds for broken or poorly made “custom” (meaning we ordered it with a particular fabric, not had it custom-made; I’m not made of money!) furniture can be a real pain in the tookus. (For some strange reason, when a vendor puts fabric on your furniture, they think you ought to take it no matter what the quality. I have never understood this attitude.)

Well, unfortunately, neither sofa nor chair are acceptable. Regarding the sofa, although we like firm cushions, these are so firm that when we sit on them, they don’t squish down like normal cushions; in fact, our feet don’t even touch the floor! On a firmness scale of 1 to 10, I would rank these about 15. And the chair… well, it’s no good either, but for different reasons.

So now begins the process. We had to visit the local store and demonstrate the, ahem, firm cushion. First problem was our salesperson wasn’t in, so we had to ask for a higher-up. Well her attitude was there “might be a problem”. Hmmph. We compared the cushion with one that it was supposed to feel like, and I practically had to push her down to make her sit on it. Then she grudgingly admitted “there might be an issue here.” We’re to call this number and they’ll “see if there’s anything that can be done.” We got the distinct impression that since we weren’t her customers, she couldn’t have cared less.

It’s stuff like this that makes the blood pressure rise. Who do they think they are? Once again, a blown customer service opportunity.

So Mrs. MZM, God bless her, calls the number and asks for the guy, but he’s out. But… she ended up talking to the Service Manager for the entire chain of stores. So she unloaded on him. Amazingly, he took every detail down, agreed we were treated poorly, and promised a response right away. Within the hour, the co-owner of the chain caller her back and solved the problem to our satisfaction. He was also appalled at the treatment we had received and promised to “take care of it”.

We’ll see how quickly they resolve this one, so the jury’s still out.

Fast Food

Naturally during this time there was no time to cook (or even a place for food until the refrigerator was delivered), so we became quite familiar with the local fast-food eateries. Mrs. MZM stopped at a Chick Fil-A near us to order lunch, and after placing her order stepped aside to wait. While waiting, at least three other employees stopped what they were doing and asked her: “Can I help you with anything?”, “Is there anything you need?”, and “I’m glad you came by today. Won’t you come back again?”. And they weren’t even behind the counter!

Now that’s a positive customer service experience we’ll remember!

Short one today.

I’ll spend just a FEW moments talking about the bizarre phenomenon known as Snakes on a Plane, and then I’m going to wash my hands and go to bed. Heaven help me. Please. (No, I didn’t and won’t be seeing it. Ever.)

First, there’s this from PRIOR to the movie’s release date, written by Tom Ehrenfeld at Marketing Profs. Note that expectations were quite high; this was pretty typical of everything I happened to read about this movie. The thing to bear in mind is that THE predominant theme was that it would do well, not because it was in any way a good movie (there seems to be general agreement that it isn’t), but because the buzz (read: hype) generated by bloggers and other internet media was expected to be the driving force behind a giant marketing triumph. People were already talking about “a new cult classic”. Sheesh.

Then, this morning there’s this from Seth Godin, which seems to be pretty much representative of the articles I’m seeing AFTER the movie release this past weekend. I particularly like this statement:

“I fear that people are missing a fundamental truth: just because people know who you are doesn’t mean they’re going to buy what you sell.”

Thanks for the reminder, Seth. Gotta go with you on this one.

Now apply that principle to whatever you’re doing right now. Are you a job seeker? What will make them “buy” what you have to “sell”? Are you an entrepreneur? Project Manager? Lawyer? Kumquat salesman? Well guess what? It’s still the same question.

Never forget – we’re all salesmen. Let’s not let the hype of the moment prevent us from doing what really needs to be done. Do the homework.

Good night.