Month: December 2010

Holiday Stories – Laugh & Learn

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We all have them. 

Maybe they are part of family lore.  Maybe they are things only you remember. 

And maybe some are funny.

Sometimes the funny stories are better.  If they make you laugh when you think back on them – maybe there’s a lesson there.   In fact, if you know anything about humor; there almost always is.

My first experience with the damage done by leaking confidential information happened 40 years ago today on Christmas Eve.   Let’s just call it, given the recent news stories, a St. NickyLeak so to speak.  I was only 5 years old and it happened just a mere 30 seconds after my 7 year old brother was told (in sworn confidence) the truth about Santa by Father.  Racing down the hall, older brother Kevin ran into our bedroom, slammed the door behind him and exclaimed that Santa was (gulp) ..fake.  Good times.  Later, Kevin worked a few years for U.S. Government (with a real security clearance mind you).  I was a little worried about that.

My first experience in workplace safety training occurred at very young age too.  For as long as we lived with our parents, there was no live tree in the McCarthy household for fear of an infestation of bugs or far worse, the invasion by larger animals that may have burrowed or nested in the festive tree and that would surely take over the house.   There were also no electric lights on said Christmas tree for fear of fire (ever- no matter how large the UL listing got) and quite understandably then there was no roasting of chestnuts of any kind as our fireplace was never opened (not even once).   I learned to love tinsel, fear live trees and continue to be amazed that someone can have a real fire inside a house.  I wouldn’t trade any of it though because today, I’m always working safe and living safe;  checking the oven, the stove, the basement, the emergency brake……….

My best experience for understanding the value of knowing your audience occurred during Christmas 2001 when my 4 year old son showed a quick understanding of the game of chess.  As we began to play with the shiny new board (a gift I cheerily procured   having suffered nearly a year of torment playing endless games of Connect 4) and he smartly moved pieces around the board I said “That is very astute of you, son”.  He froze, looked at me oddly, squinted hard, then balled his fists up and snapped “Well, you’re “A-stupid” too!!””.

Be it this Holiday or any other time people and family gather to celebrate; funny happens and stories are born.  Next time you tell or experience one around these times, look for the lesson- I’m betting it’s there.

Till next time,

Grow the Business.

Mark

Lean In

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When you visit a small business, lean in and take a little peek thru that half opened storeroom door.  You just might be able to see a little arm attached to a littler hand holding a bright crayon scribbling away on papers laying about that worktable.  Of course then you realize, that Kristen who is tallying the receipts out front, is this little one’s Mommy. 

When you grab that coveted Hi back stool at the local bar (you know, the chair just opposite the TV but kind of on the corner so you see everything), go ahead and order that Sam Adams and as you wait, lean in a bit and you just might see a purse on the floor overflowing with bills including those yellow “final notice” ones.  For a second you get that sick feeling in your stomach too- you’ve been there.  Of course then you realize, Mary must have just raced here for the closing shift and is praying she makes enough in business and tips tonight to at least get the late late late ones paid.

When you take Max for a walk and see “Mike’s All Pro Painting” truck next door at Dave’s house you’re curious so you step a little closer.  You notice the truck is clean with a nice logo on the side- a real pro.  But lean in a bit and take a look inside the cab and you might just see a catastrophe of burger wrappers and coffee cups.  But as you look even closer you see in the midst of this mess a copy of Entrepreneur magazine and WSJ’s guide to Small Business.   Of course then you realize, Mike has much bigger dreams.

These folks and many other small business owners have kids, bills and dreams.

And many of you have the chance every day in what you do to help these folks grow their business.  You have the advice, the ideas, the products and the services that can do that for them.  

But So what?  Growing their business doesn’t really mean anything.  At least not always to us it doesn’t.

We have to think deeper.

Helping Kristen, Mary and Mike grow their business is way more than just growing their business to them.   Growing helps them pay for that after school program, or for those late late bills or for that seminar to learn how to secure an Angel investor and live that dream.

Growing is often a wonderful means to an end for small business owners.  And those ends aren’t much different than what you and me have in mind.

So lean in.

But lean way in this time and give em’ a hand.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

The Wicked Awesome Awards

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If I was in fact, having an actual awards ceremony, I think these four winners would give some inspiring acceptance speeches.   And if they actually knew they were winning a Wicked Awesome Award (they don’t) they would be thrilled.

Until the WAA’s reach that “coveted” status, the awards actually mean more to me (and hopefully you) than anyone else.   Why?  Because each of these winners affected me in some wonderfully wicked awesome way.   And you get the benefit of knowing how.

Each of these people over the last 6 weeks did something simple, yet so helpful they inspired me to stop, grab my red book and write down these moments.  That’s a big deal in my book (literally) and makes them worthy winners.    

Here they are;  

Adolphe at Verizon who called me on his lunch break from his own cell phone to confirm that my cell phone was working properly while I was traveling in Kansas City last month.  He said he would; I didn’t really believe it but by golly, he did.    

Helen at Target who checked left, right and then all around her looking for her boss.  And not having found him, grinned, left her register and helped the elderly woman bag her groceries way down at the end of the checkout lane.  Helen, you’re right; some things just aren’t in the training manual.

Rev. Dean who sat next to me on the plane last month, each of us sharing stories about work and life, stopped mid sentence and sincerely asked if there was someone in my life he could pray for over the next month.   There was Rev. Dean, thank you, thank you very much.

Tim and Jimmy at Hannaford, who insisted on loading my wife’s groceries in the pouring rain saying “Just get in the car- we got it!”.  Tim is a made up name (and so is Jimmy) but this complete stranger and his son totally made my day and I wasn’t even there.

Congratulations all.  No lives saved or Herculean efforts here but Wicked Awesome for sure.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

I Sent My Wife Roses For No Reason. What Did You Do?

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Yesterday, I sent a dozen red roses (in a beautiful vase I might add) to my wife at her place of work. 

I sent them just because I love her; no other reason.

In fact,  the card read….“Just because I Love You.”   

Upon receiving such a thoughtful delivery and reading the attached note, my lovely wife apparently teared up in front of all her co-workers, which of course made said co-workers tear up, and they in turn even got visitors to tear up.   Love all around and tissues for everyone.

Ahem.  🙂

I know.  All you guys are looking real bad right now.  

Some other guys are looking bad right now too but they don’t even know it.  They will of course when they get home and see this blog post taped to the fridge like a sentry guarding the bottles of beer that lie within. 

Fun.

But my friends, I’ll take the heat because here’s my point; you can’t be boring or predictable, you gotta keep it fresh.  You gotta surprise.

  •  Are you the sales rep that sent the Thanksgiving card out to the client to say thank you for their business?  Probably not, but some other partner/ supplier somewhere else, probably did.  You go ahead and send out just one card like everyone else.
  • Are you the sales leader who suddenly sat down and called out on behalf of your sales person to set up 5 appointments just for her, so she had a chance to knock em’ dead with her presentation?  Probably not, but some other sales leader, somewhere else, probably did.   You go ahead and keep coaching her on her presentation.
  • Are you the sales rep who called looking to hit voicemail  (cause you knew if you got your customer live for this, it would be interrupting) and left a message about the link you sent to help them deal with a problem totally unrelated to what you sell?  Probably not, but some other sales rep, somewhere else, probably did.   You go ahead and call only when you are looking to hit your quota.

You love your significant other.  You love your customers.  Keep it fresh.  Surprise the hell out of em’ now and then.   You know it’s good.  And yeah, you beat back the dreaded “boring” and the competition every time. 

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

What He Wasn’t

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It’s been 5 years now, to the day.    

So I’m hoping that you won’t mind too much if my Dad joins me here for a bit. 

I still stare at his picture now and then and try to articulate in my mind what this man meant to me and my family.  And truth be told, I’ve recently come to think it’s not so much about what he was that matters.  But rather, what he wasn’t. 

And, I think there are some lessons here for perhaps more than just me.

He was one who carried a gun of course, being a policeman.  But he wasn’t a man who glorified that or let his five kids see the gun much.  He wasn’t afraid of it for us; he just knew what it was really for.  Into the house he came, walked right to the bedroom, opened up a safe (at least that’s what we thought we heard as we were never allowed close enough to actually see) and locked it away. 

He was one who spent his days (or night shifts) dealing with horrible actions committed by equally horrible people but he wasn’t a man who ever brought that work home.  For years we eagerly sat around the kitchen table jousting to be the first to ask “Did you catch any bad guys today?” And his answer was always the same “Sure did, kids, sure did.”

He was one who never made a lot of money.  But he wasn’t a one to complain, he just worked harder right along with my Mom who was a nurse.  More work details and more shifts were the means for them to find a way to send the boys to a private high school and who knows what else we didn’t realize then, was a real financial burden.  

He was one of the Greatest Generation raised by a single mother in a tough Irish Catholic neighborhood.  But he wasn’t one like so many of that generation who was always quiet, almost stoic about what he felt.  “Have I told you lately that I love you?” was something he said to all of us well into our teenage years.   The letter he wrote me when I was 17 (which I still have) expressing how much he loved me and how proud he was of me is something I cherish to this day.   

For 5 years and maybe because he left us earlier than expected, I’ve struggled to define in my head who he really was, what he taught us and what he believed.  

But it’s when I start to think about what he wasn’t; that’s when I start to see who he really was. 

That’s a great lesson for us too Dad, thanks.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

What’s Easy

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image from hockeyindependent.com

I write a lot about easy.  But this one’s a little different.

I write often about how important it is to small business customers and prospects that your products are easy, that your website is easy, that your billing is easy, that your ordering is easy, or that your customer service is easy.    Basically easy is what small business needs.  

Here’s the rub though.  What’s easy for small business isn’t necessarily easy for you.

What’s easy for small business is:

  • To Keep Who They Got:   Dislodging a vendor in a small business is not easy.  Last I checked SB’s don’t have a team of sales or process strategists charged with looking at the value of bringing something or somebody in brand new.  Nope it’s more like, “I’ve been with them forever”, or “I know his family”, or “It’s too much work to change mid year”, or “This thing is like 1/100th of my budget why do I care?” etc. etc.     You have got to make it easier to switch.

 

  • To Blow You Off:   Heck, they themselves are or were, sales reps or account managers in one way or another for their own business-most of em’ anyway.  And they have staff trained to get rid of sales reps and marketers like you and some personally make it an art to avoid everybody but customers, family, their accountant or their banker.  It’s not that they don’t think you have a good product, it’s just that there’s no darn time to spare.    You have got to make it easier to see why just a little time with you might be valuable.

 

  • To Not Believe You:  The Small Business owner who has that type A personality, and is the wearer of all hats, and with the ego through the roof and the work ethic like nobody else;– Is she going to flat out just believe you when you say you can help grow her business?  Heck no.  You have to make it easier for her to trust you. 

 

 

I usually end all my posts with real applications, real ways to get it done.  I usually give you a few things you can just run with right now and tackle the problem and grow the business. 

That would be too easy. 

And there’s a better way.  Though this blog is only 6 months old, type in the search box the word “easy” (10 posts) or “value” (13 posts) or “credibility” (7 posts) or any darn word you think might be make sense.  Therein is a lot more help to make it easier for you and your customers.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark