New Blog, New Opportunities

It was in March 2008 that I started posting blogs about the joys and challenges that are common to all who are involved in a small business. Meant mostly as encouragement, they were intended to help us recognize that the key to our success is finding the balance of profit and peace. The joy of accomplishment and the joy of life. A killer instinct and a gentle spirit.

Today, the focus of my writings has expanded to include specific topics related to the publishing of email newsletters and my company, davemail. Over the coming years, it is my intention to use my new blog, located at www.mydavemail/daveblog, to cover those areas but also include the stories I love to share about the blessings in my life and how they reveal truths to me in a variety of unique ways.

I hope you will migrate over to the new blog and continue sharing with me as we work on the balance of work and life together.

Dave
http://www.mydavemail.com/
www.twitter.com/davefiore

‘Thank you, Mr. Fiore’

Last weekend, I treated my Valentine to a wonderful dinner at Bella Bella, a quaint Italian restaurant tucked away in midtown Tallahassee. While the ambiance, service and food were thoroughly delightful, what impressed me most was a three-second exchange we had as we were leaving.

Still glowing from a slice of almond cake that we quickly regretted deciding to share, we were walking out the door when the greeter thanked us by name for coming. Granted, we had reservations (avoiding the walk of shame we witnessed more than once by couples who thought a table might be available), but that was almost 90 minutes earlier.

Even my wife commented that the young lady was treating us like we were someone important. “Does she think you are a food critic or something,” she asked me as we laughed on our way out to the minivan to call and check on the kids before proceeding to our chick flick.

Whether she did mistake me for someone important or just treated everyone like that, it reminded me of two things. One is that every single person we have the privilege to serve is important, because within seconds I could have twittered, blogged or facebooked about my experience. Gone are the days when I would have to run into someone at Publix to swap stories. So better that I be impressed than disappointed.

Secondly, I was again reminded that it takes such a small amount of effort to impact someone. A kind word, timely follow-up call or simply keeping a promise can elicit confidence and motivate an enthusiasm for your business that can quickly become viral.

Oh yeah, and it’s the right thing to do.

So think about how you might surprise your customers with unexpected attention and see what happens. I bet they will be telling people about it, and then they’ll come back for more almond cake.

Want to Make the Sale? Bring the Kid.

A couple of months ago, I was charged with the task of selling a few Chick-Fil-A calendars for my daughter’s band. Not an unusual parent assignment or a seemingly difficult one, especially for such a keen marketer as myself.

I knocked on the doors of the other companies in my office building – extolling the benefits of the calendars, including their clever illustrations and money-saving coupons. The reception to my sales pitch was rather tepid, however, and one guy even spent five minutes looking through all 12 months and laughing at the pictures only to say, “Naw, I don’t think so.”

Why couldn’t I close the deal? You can get most of your money back after using just one coupon, for crying out loud. I gave the unsold calendars back to my wife in disgrace and hadn’t really thought about them until this week. One afternoon, one of the guys in my building knocked on my door. He came in with his tween daughter carrying a box of those $1 candy bars, and for extra good measure, his wife came too.

Are you kidding? The family? How do you say no to Hannah Montana? I bought three candy bars that day and was reminded of an important sales truth.

To make the sale, you have to make it really hard to say no. And just in case it is inconvenient to drag your children on sales calls, use something equally as powerful. A clear benefit. A strong value. An advantage over the competition. A promise of over-the-top customer service.

In today’s economy, there is no time to be subtle. You just need to be direct and powerful – like a child with a box of candy bars.

P.S. I still have a few calendars left if you want one. Seriously.

Looking Out for No. 1?

The pre-holiday, new business window was quickly closing and a slow few weeks were on the horizon. At least that’s what Jeanne Alexander thought. The owner of Advertising Specialties & Art Unlimited saw that her calendar was far less crowded than usual and decided that she had a couple choices as how to spend her pre-Christmas work time.

The first option was to just pack it in and wait for the new year. And given the overall economic climate both here and elsewhere, I bet there would have been a less-than-festive mix of worry, self-doubt and apprehension involved.

Option two, she said, would be to step back, take the focus off herself and see what she could do to help the business people she knows through her extensive network of contacts -- a network I watch her carefully and skillfully nurture throughout the year.

Not surprisingly to anyone who knows her (or senses that this topic would have far less impact otherwise), Jeanne decided to make calls, connect people she thought might benefit from each other and execute her own economic stimulus plan the old-fashioned way. And she did it simply because she thought it was the right thing to do.

That’s it. In the face of economic upheaval, Jeanne remembered that being successful in business is about more than bolstering your own bottom line – it is about serving others when possible to build a community of success that benefits everybody. Putting others before yourself. Not a bad concept to hang your hat on.

The funny thing is that those three weeks Jeanne was looking forward to spending in relative calm turned out to be slammed with business. Her business. She never ended up with a break at all.

Jeanne shared this story with our Chamber Leads Group last week to encourage us in networking and generating referrals for each other. She inspired us, and I hope it inspires you.

Learn more about what Jeanne does at www.AdSpec-Art.com.