Old-fashioned Communication

Travelling hyper-speed into communicating via social media, the old-fashioned ways of doing business still keeps the customers. While the method du jour may bring interested shoppers, getting and keeping buyers is going to take personal, one-on-one relationships. Once you get your customers, focus on these activities:

1) Listen first. Let them speak and hear them. The saying “measure twice, cut once”, could also be stated as “listen twice, speak once”.

2) Ask. Be brave and actually ask her what she wants. Don’t assume, don’t launch into your features. Let her talk, and then explain the benefits that fit with what the person just told you she needs.

3) Over deliver. Exceeding expectations will surprise, delight, and keep your customers coming back for more.

4) Ask. This time, ask for feedback. Call a week after the sale to see how she likes her purchase. If you are too scared to hear the answer, maybe you need to evaluate your product or service. And if you do need to improve your goods or services, wouldn’t you rather hear it from the customer first-hand than read about it in a blog?

5) Ask again. Call again in 45 days. This will knock her socks off. And your competition relying solely on blogs and twitter feeds to keep her will be left in the dust wondering what happened.

Road rage. And then some.

This past spring, a friend of mine announced on Facebook that she was giving up road rage for Lent. At first that hit me as very funny. Then I faced the truth.

Road rage is alive and well in my Honda Pilot.

Running errands this morning I felt as if I got behind every “grandma and grandpa” out tooling around in their little novas. And I don’t mean that I was forced to drive the speed limit, which, at times, does make me spastic. Oh no. These people were going 15 to 20 in 45 mph zones. The type of creeping along that makes me feel as if the blood vessels in my neck are going to explode. Quentin Tarantino style.

How did I get this way? Is it from not getting enough ice cream as a child? Doubtful. From looking in the mirror, I’ve certainly had my share of ice cream, and then some.

It is because I am usually screeching into most parking spaces, holding my breath as I dash up the steps to yet another appointment for which I am two to three minutes late.

Because I am speeding before I even get into the car.

I am not centered. I have let go of my daily scriptures. My prayer. My special time for me and God. I’m trying to go it alone. And so I zoom along, thinking I am on my own, doing okay, until I come upon some slow driver who doesn’t realize that he needs to speed up. Or does he?

This guy needs a new image consultant!

Let me get this straight: Tony Hayward made over four and a half million dollars last year in salary. Yet he needs to take a break for a yacht race while his company is still spewing oil in the gulf. He is the C.E.O. yet he wasn't part of the decisions that caused the spewing to begin with. He also is quoted as saying he wants to get back to his life. Huh?

Birthdays

Being yet another year closer to the big 5.0 is not a day that I ever thought about as a younger person. My birthdays have meant so many different things to me, depending on the stage of my life. At 13 I was officially a teenager and allowed to get my ears pierced. Sixteen meant driving and dating. I hit 21 and thought I was going to set the world on fire once I got to start partying in legal fashion. Turns out, I was just one more girl who had primped and dressed up hoping to meet someone "nice". After 21, the birthdays didn't seem so important. I enjoyed being the "birthday girl", but the milestone became less and less meaningful. At 40, my husband bought me a beautiful, diamond ring guard for my engagement ring, making that birthday a bit more palatable. This year, I just know that I am a person with very unique world views, some conservative, some liberal, some somewhere in the middle. I guess I want what most people want: world peace, happiness for my husband and children, and myself, financial security, and health. When I find all of those, I'll post a link to them so you can find them for yourself.