Archives for November 2014

Learning Something New

November 25, 2014 by Leave a Comment

Learning Something NewWhen I was 10 years old my sister and I went with my mom to visit one my mom’s childhood friends in Jackson, Mississippi. My mom’s friend had kids around our age and every afternoon we’d head to the local swimming pool. At first I didn’t want to go because I didn’t know how to swim. Being in the water was terrifying. I thought I might go under and drown.

It was the middle of August and let me tell you it was hot, really hot. It didn’t take long before I decided I had to get in the deeper water to cool off. My mom’s friend’s son showed me how to do it and it didn’t take long for me to catch on. By the end of the week I was looking forward to going to the pool. I learned to swim in one week!
This is in stark contrast to my swimming lessons from five years early. My mom bid on, and won, swimming lessons from the Channel 10 PBS auction. She thought it’d be good for me to learn how to swim. Only I wasn’t ready to learn. Every time I got in the pool I began screaming. Even though I had a board to help me stay afloat I resisted every chance I got. I was sitting in the bleachers by the end of every lesson. I only went to about three or four lessons before my mom stopped taking me, I think out of sheer embarrassment.
There are many reasons we resist learning something new; our own ignorance of the subject, prior history, other people’s opinions, a bad experience the first time we attempted it. Whatever the reason, we can overcome it.
If we want to learn something new we are fully capable of doing so. We just need to make up our minds and see the value in it. When I was five there was no value to me in learning how to swim. I didn’t care, and that was reflected in my attitude. When I was 10 there was a huge value to me – I didn’t want to fry in the sun!
What have you been putting off doing because you’d have to learn something new? Find value in learning it and then start. Find a mentor, attend classes, or watch tutorials on YouTube. Just start. It will be rewarding when you learn it, and you’ll be surprised how much more of the world is open to you.
Filed Under: Life Lessons, Motivation Tagged With: ,

Giving More Than What’s Expected

November 11, 2014 by Leave a Comment

Giving More Than What's ExpectedBack in the days when record albums were issued in vinyl, I used to base my decision to plop down money for the entire album on whether or not I liked the B-side of the single. My thinking was, if the B-side was good the album would be good. If the B-side was good but wasn’t on the album, the album had to be great because they had more material than they could fit on the album.

In both scenarios I was almost certain to go out and buy the album. If the B-side wasn’t that good or felt like a throw-away track I wouldn’t buy the album and figured that the band didn’t have enough good material to make a strong album.

Maybe my logic was a little harsh, but I wasn’t going to let them get any more of my money when they didn’t care about putting out a quality product. And for a 45 that meant two solid songs. Maybe some record labels or artists wanted to save their best material for the A-side of the singles when they didn’t realize that the B-side was an opportunity to give fans, and more importantly potential fans, a reason to love them.
When someone knocks your socks off you’ll brag to your friends about them. Today, people have thousands of friends in their social media contacts. When they share their experiences the ramifications can be huge.
Maybe I’m just jaded, but for me that bar is pretty low. It should be easy to impress, but sadly, that’s rarely the case. The companies that do though, reap the rewards. The ones that don’t won’t last. How to do it? Give more than what’s expected.
Gary Vaynerchuk talks about this a lot. He says the key to success is to care…a lot. Giving more than what’s expected is caring in it’s truest form. People don’t forget experiences, good and bad. Do your best to make it memorable by giving more than what’s expected and you can turn an okay experience into one that’s special.
Have you been impressed with a company that went above and beyond? What did they do that was different? How do you give your customers more?
Filed Under: Customer Service, Life Lessons, Marketing Tagged With: , , ,

It Pays to Be Nice

November 4, 2014 by Leave a Comment

It Pays to be NiceYears ago my wife and I were flying out of O’Hare in Chicago during the Christmas holidays. We asked the gate agent at the terminal if there was a meal on the flight. He checked our tickets and said there wasn’t. We thanked him and headed to the food court to grab a couple of sandwiches.

We bought our food and headed back to the terminal when we heard our names over the PA. When we approached our gate agent, he told us that he had moved us to first class, and that there was a meal in first class. He smiled as he said the last part. We expressed our gratitude while he changed our tickets.
It was a crowded flight and he could have done that for anyone. What probably set us apart from the others is that we didn’t complain when we found out we didn’t get a meal. It wasn’t his fault, but I’m sure he heard complaints about it from others.
The lesson here is that it pays to be nice. You should always be nice without the thought of getting something in return; because it’s the right thing to do. Often you’ll be rewarded for it. We were rewarded for treating the gate agent respectfully. After all, he had no control over whether or not there was a meal on our flight.
I’m sure he felt good giving us the surprise upgrade. When people are nice to us we want to be nice back. If a server at a restaurant makes you feel special you’ll leave a larger tip. If employees at a company treat you like a friend and not a transaction you’ll visit more often, spend more money, and tell others about your experience. We love being valued.
When we are treated how we think we should be treated we remember it. It can fuel us for days with positive energy and it inspires us to be kinder. Thankfully, as human beings, we have the power on how we treat others.
Companies often forget that customers are human beings; not an account or ID number. We have names. We have feelings, aspirations, and fears. It benefits everyone to remember this. When we treat someone like a decent human being amazing things can happen.
Filed Under: Inspiration, Life Lessons Tagged With: ,