Tag Archives: Reality checks

July 16, 2013 · 10:13 am

Staying Together

It’s Tunesday! Today is a special one for me since it’s the 35th anniversary of the day the Mrs. and I got married. Because of that, I wanted a song from roughly the time when we got married that’s also a love song. What popped into my head this morning is “Let’s Stay Together“, a hit for both Al Green and Tina Turner.   The two hits actually happened on either side of our wedding date and I’m very aware that a lot of folks use this as a wedding song (we didn’t – Embraceable You, as I recall…).  I’ve always thought that Al Green’s version was way too low-key for the passion of the song and the video below is a live Tina Turner version which captures the song’s essence:

So what’s this got to do with business?  Actually, quite a bit.  You see, trying to stay together is what all of us do as businesses – with our customers, our team, and our vendors:

Let’s, let’s stay together
Lovin’ you whether, whether
Times are good or bad, happy or sad

The one thing that makes a relationship last is the trust that you’re standing on certain ground.  As the lyric says, you may go through bad times as well as good but never wondering about the underlying connection is crucial.  A customer with issues may not be happy but they’ll stay a customer if they trust you’re working to resolve their problem.  They want to hear “let me be the one you come running to”, not “I’m unable to help you.”

At its core, a relationship of any sort involves an investment of some sort.  While there is a lot of sanity in not throwing good money (literally and figuratively) after bad, it’s generally easier to keep a customer than to find new ones.  A commitment to trying to stay together makes that happen.  That’s how you celebrate 35 years as partners!

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June 27, 2013 · 8:58 am

Guest Post: Expiration Dates

My friend Robin is lawyer but I don’t hold that against her (he said, alienating a fair number of his friends…).  She had some really interesting thoughts on the topic of holding on to the past that I asked her to share.  Hopefully you’ll find them as thought-provoking as I did.
Why is it that very few of the finer things in life have never-ending shelf lives? The old vintage bottle of wine…it stays safe and protected, buried deep down in the wine cellar until you decide to dig it out and pop the cork. Then its days are numbered. The time starts ticking away. A lovely French cheese, fresh fruit, and even bright light bulbs, they are all destined to burn out sooner rather than later. Even though you can replace these things, are they as good the second time around?
Why is it that so many things in life are perishable, only at their peak for a short while? More importantly, why do we seem to hold on to things that have long since reached their expiration dates? We know that using expired products is recipe for disaster. It is toxic and unhealthy. We understand that with food, but why doesn’t it click in other areas of our lives – business, relationships, or even wearing that old worn out pair of shoes that hurts our back? Do we honestly need a “good if used by” stamp on everything in our life so we know when to let things go? Would we be better off if there were some predetermined formula to tell us when it’s time to let go?
As I am cleaning out my office, I am amazed at all the “stuff” I have amassed. Most of it has long since expired, even if only in theory. I’m purging the outdated and irrelevant to make room more new possibilities, better opportunities. Why have I spent so much time and energy holding on to things that never really mattered? It is just because there was no expiration date? Because I didn’t know its shelf life? It’s much easier to discard something that has surpassed its expiration date than to make a conscious choice to throw something away without the guidance of a date. That date is like a security blanket.
With dates, there’s no questioning, no second guessing. You just know. You could enjoy things for the time they’re available, regardless of how long or short.  Why do I still have an address book from 2000 and a Rolodex from 2003 (Yes, I trashed both of them)? My office has moved four times since then. Did I seriously cart these things around? They are irrelevant.
If there’s any purpose to carrying around this much baggage, I have no clue what it is.
I think we all can probably do a little cleaning out of our offices and homes, don’t you?  New “stuff” awaits – you just need the room to let it into your life!  Thoughts?
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June 24, 2013 · 10:38 am

Radiant Marketing

Ever seen someone who you might describe as “radiant”?  You know what I mean – filled with light.

049e that inner glow

(Photo credit: jjjj56cp)

Glowing.  Beaming.  The immediate image that comes to mind is of a bride on her wedding day or a parent watching their child do something that makes the kid beam and the parent glow even more brightly.  Radiant.  It’s pretty easy to read these people – that glow just shines through all the layers of defenses in which we adult humans often wrap ourselves.  You can’t fake it.

The same thing is true about businesses.  Consumers can see when a company has that “inner glow” and when it’s faking it.  Think about brands you know that seem to have a core confidence and I’m willing to bet that you can pick up that “radiant” vibe.  It’s not that they don’t ever commit missteps or do anything that wouldn’t cause them to be “perfect.”  In fact, quite the contrary.  They have the inner peace to admit when they’re wrong and they don’t stray from their centers to “fix” an emergency.

Why I raise this is  that more and more businesses are spending time engaged via social media with their customers and they’re putting out all sorts of messages.  The thing that gets lost is that customers can tell when it’s a marketing program and when it’s a reflection of a centered, radiant brand.  Some brands – Patagonia and Apple are the first two that pop into my head – have become enormous because they “found” themselves and stay true.  They don’t pander.  They radiate.  Everything they do glows.  When companies try to mimic that what they fail to realize is that it’s replicable only to the extent that a company can find its own core.

Consumers are people.  They’re used to spotting fakes and once in a while they see someone who radiates light.  They can sniff out when you’re trying to foster “engagement” when what you need to be doing is looking within and sharing what you find (hopefully there IS something to find) with them.  Maybe it’s allowing them to bask in your glow.

Finding and marketing that radiance is not marketing at all, in my book.  It’s a key to success and one that your fans will love to share.  After all, don’t we all love it when your friends have it?  Isn’t it catching?   Tell me.

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