A New Business Opportunity....My Way
Years ago, in the 1980s, I was considering opening a laundromat. The company I researched was a franchise so many of the logistical decisions were inherently made by the franchisor, the parent company. Still, I had much flexibility when it came to the actual business decisions.
 
Many of those I lean on for advice, my "kitchen cabinet," advised me NOT to make the decision I eventually made. You see, I have a rigid personal inclination - some may call it a compulsion - to conduct business only through relationship cultivation and management.

It was simply contrary to my uncompromising mantra and instincts, and against every fiber of my being (at my age I really hate using that particular f-word) to open up a laundromat that didn't have a personality, a way to connect with customers, a feeling that this one laundromat, above all others, was homey, was someplace special.
 
Differentiating From The Competition
Conventional wisdom says that people are very goal oriented when it comes to washing and drying clothes...that they do not need to pay extra for bells and whistles (I did charge 10 cents a load more)...that they have a one track mind: to get in and get out, their chore completed.
 
Unconventional wisdom says that every customer that walks through the door, even the doors of a laundromat, is a relationship-waiting-to-happen. I invested more in my laundromat for specific, seemingly small things, like nice carpeting, a pool table, arcade games, "things" that I knew other competing laundromats strategically did not have. I invested in comfy sofas in a large living-room type atmosphere with a big screen TV. I envisioned people literally doing their laundry and hanging out. I called this mundane experience of washing clothes " having good clean fun."

Punctuating Your Signature 
The cherry on top of it all was my excellent staff, who were trained to help our customers carry their baskets of laundry to and from their cars, to help fold their laundry, and to wipe down each machine when one customer was done and the next one was ready to wash and dry. My staff smiled, made conversation and grew to know - by name and face - their regulars.
 
Business boomed.
 
I look back with so much fondness and warmth on my days in the laundromat business. I had a vision and goals. And I stayed tied to my message no matter what. Because business is about opportunities.
 
What Obstacles Are In Front Of You?
And it led directly to my decision to become a Life Coach. I now help people like you clarify their visions and goals, whether those goals are business or personal. I can help you decide when to stay on or off message and help you remove obstacles in your way.
 
That's what coaching is all about. That's what I do. That's how I help. My focus is on your vocational or personal well being, how to help you do your job better, how to attack specific challenges or struggles in front of you. My focus is on your agenda, an agenda that you set.
 
And just as any agenda or strategy can be refined and re-envisioned, so can yours. Which brings us to the blind man.

A Matter Of Perspective
He was sitting on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet and a sign that read: I AM BLIND, PLEASE HELP.

A woman walked by and stopped to observe. She saw that the blind man only had a few coins in his hat. She dropped in a couple of coins and, without asking his permission, took the sign and rewrote it. She returned the sign to the blind man and left.

That afternoon after work the woman returned to the blind man and noticed that his hat was overflowing with coins and bills. The blind man recognized her footsteps and asked if she was the one who had rewritten his sign, and if so, would she tell him what it now said.

The woman responded, "Nothing that is not true; I just wrote the message a little differently." She smiled and went on her way.

The new sign read: TODAY IS SPRING AND I CANNOT SEE IT 

Sometimes we need to change our strategy, because if we always do what we've always done, we'll always get what we've always got.

The Incredible Tale of Johnny the Bagger
Here's one that never made it to Oprah's Book Club: the book The Simple Truths of Service, which tells the story of Johnny the Bagger. It's 76 pages long, literally a 15 minute read. I encourage you to read the book, but here is a video the authors Ken Blanchard and Barbara Glantz created from the book. By the end, not only will you be smiling, but you will innately begin thinking about your personal "signature" and vocational values. 

Care Means Not Always Thinking About Dollars And Cents
I always wanted my signature to be unmatched customer care; thus, I get turned on when I see someone else with the same aspirations. All the more so when I see them achieve it.

My son, daughter-in law, and newborn grandson live in a small apartment building. Recently they saw one of the maintenance folks and chatted a bit about the new baby. A few days later they get a card from the multi-building owner/landlord welcoming their newest tenant.  The card read, "You're the person we've been waiting for." 

This gesture struck me because property management companies are not typically in the business of customer service. (I despise that word SERVICE...everyone thinks they offer it and so few deliver it or understand it. It's all about CARE.) My kids already signed their lease. There's no more business to be done, and do they think that this card is going to be the difference between the kids renewing or moving out? 

The ONLY reason for the card, the real signature, is to let their tenants know that "we care".

Your Mistakes Define You...In The Most Positive Way
Signatures can take on a couple of different identities. In the world of client/customer/congregant-care, you don't generally receive a standing ovation for doing what you're supposed to be doing. It's your job to make that hospital visit, to check the legal precedent, to call when the desired item comes in. 

But what separates you from those service providers is how you handle that "whoops." How you recoup from mistakes can be the difference between quality care and inattentiveness. 

When I had my men's clothing store, each time a customer picked up a garment, tried it on, and exclaimed that "these pants are way too tight and I don't know when I can come back to try them on again," I saw an opportunity. Here is a chance to not only impress, recover, and retain a customer but a chance to get someone to brag about me to his friends. 

By merely offering him a cup of coffee (and, let's be honest, sometimes a shot of Crown Royal) asking him about his job or his kids, and using the 15 minutes it takes to let the waist out by showing him I care, I turned the tables and turned a potentially lost customer into an ally. If the tailoring took more than 15 minutes? No problem. I would send him on his way and drop it off later at his home or office. 

We received referral after referral based on scenarios like this. 

Creating Your Signature
Signatures can be overt, like always handwriting your thank you notes and making them personal, or the Johnny the Bagger way. Or, they can be subtle. The important thing is that they are constant and ingrained in what you do. Paying attention to details, so often overlooked, can be the easiest signature... remembering someone's name after your first encounter or picking up from the last conversation you had with them. Making sure your waiting room has fresh coffee and a plate of cookies... making sure your store's sidewalk is perfectly shoveled, walking around and greeting all of your congregants personally before services begin (my rabbi actually does this), quickly and efficiently handle your mistakes. 

I keep thinking of my son's landlords. They clearly understand that the small touches add up to a much larger whole, that the greeting card most certainly contributes in a substantial way to an environment we want to be part of. 

Create your signature, create it from within, from whom you are. And then start signing it.  

Andy Warhol and Eleanor Roosevelt: Strange bed fellows! OK, not literally, but they are in cahoots here. And the two of them sum up my lesson today splendidly.

In 1990, I sent a placemat, pictured below, and promotion out to 6,000 of my customers. My men's retail shop needed an injection and I found the idea to do exactly that (and wish I could take credit for coming up with it!). 

Here's the thing: There is no Square Peg's Diner. Perception is Reality! 

It's All About The Customer
The whole idea of sitting at a diner and getting an idea and writing it down while it is fresh (as fresh as those delicious pancakes) is plausible, possible, and very real. 

I thought about what my customers would want from me and hypothesized that they'd want close, personal communication: not a lengthy, jargony direct mail letter, but something they could believe came directly from an owner of a store to their personal mailboxes. 

The placemat was that idea.  

Break The Rules...If It Pays Off
I guess we broke some marketing rules, though I haven't figured out which ones...but Eleanor Roosevelt did once say that "if you obey all the rules, you'll miss out on a lot of fun."

See, while it may not be corporate and some may classify it as "unprofessional," the placemat conveys relationship, warmth, a personal touch.  

There is certainly a place and time for professionalism, but I diagnosed my store's problem and fixed it: handwritten, off-the-cuff, I branded myself as an anti-chain. And my customers loved me for it.

The response to this "promotion" was beyond my highest expectation. We just didn't stop ringing that cash register!  

Just wait til I tell you my airport story. 

Here's What To Do Now
So, what's the take away here?

The takeaway is that I've accumulated enough stories and on-the-floor experience to work with your goals and objectives, to get people through your door, in to your waiting room, your pews, in front of your merchandise, or to keep them as loyal donors.

As a life coach, I will help you identify the obstacles, remove them, and achieve your objectives. Let me help you diagnose so I can work with you to solve.

Let's get you excited again about your goals. We have to meet at the diner to enhance and inspire, to rekindle that spark. 

Andy Warhol said it best: "You need to let little things that would orindarily bore you suddenly thrill you."  Like a placemat.

Let's have coffee, and maybe some pancakes, at the diner. I'll buy...you leave the coffee stain. (Look for it on the front of the place mat...it's real!)   

I remember getting a lesson in marketing back in the 70's.

A Can't Miss Sale
I managed a conventional men's retail retail shop and had recently purchased some preppy, Ivy League shirts, exactly the type of merchandise my clientele was used to seeing in my store. I marked them at $9 and strategically placed them, professionally folded, pinned and packaged, in a classy display case right up front so customers could see them as soon as  they walked in. 

A can't miss sale, I thought.

I proceeded to watch all of them continue to go unsold day after day, (except for the one I bought) week after week. Not one shirt left the shelf.  

Out Of My Hands Means Out Of My Stock
A close friend of mine who owned his own counter-culture, typical 70's styled store, a "boutique," was passing through my store.  After a brief discussion about these "winners" of mine (who were actually losing), my buddy rescued four dozen of these shirts from me, saying, "wow, I can really use these in my shop." 

Now, I wasn't entirely sure what he intended to do with them but out of my inventory means not my problem. I carried them to his car quickly and thought I had heard the end of it. 

One Man's Trash...
About a week or so later I get a call from him, this very hip(pie?) merchant buddy of mine, and he says, "I need more shirts, Larry. They're blowin out the door!"

Says me, "fantastic! How much did you have to mark them down?"

"Mark 'em down? Are you crazy? I marked them up to $15 and only got a few left...Get me more shirts!" 

I had another dozen or so of these beauties way way way back in my stockroom. So curious to see this chapter of Marketing and Merchandising 101 was I that I personally delivered the remaining stock to his store. 

There's ALWAYS An Opportunity
Here's what I learned that day: Jerry had unwrapped and unpinned these gorgeous shirts and tied them in knots. 

He washed and dried them in that condition and hung them on a clothesline...A CLOTHES LINE!...in his store. 

They were disheveled, atrocious, and just plain unattractive. Standing next to this display was a hand painted sign (forbidden, by my standards) that blared in deep red:  WILL SOMEONE BUY THESE F_______UGLY SHIRTS?  ONLY $15! 

He sold every one...including the dozen I delivered.  And I'm still not over it.

Post Script: RSS Available
If you'd like to get updates about new blog posts, hit the RSS FEED button to the right of this post. You'll be notified every time I post something new!  

Sometimes You Can’t Scream Over The Competition
When you sell a product or service, one of your key battles is jockeying for your clients' attention. We are in the midst of a busy, busy attention economy and sometimes we don't have loud enough voices to simply scream over the competition.
 
That's why I tell the folks that I coach that there are other ways to win the war for your clients' attention. There are ways to cut through all the noise, like being edgy, doing the unexpected, and finding creative paths into your potential clients’ consciousness.

The Problem: Too Much Inventory
I faced a daunting situation many years ago when I had my own retail men's clothing store.

So was the case one early Autumn: I had the right merchandise but way too much of it. See, fall isn't exactly "sale" season; in fact, it's more-often-than-not "full price" season.  And I was getting nervous. With inventory high, I was heading toward overstocked at way too fast a clip.

I needed to "bring 'em in," get customers through the door, and give them a reason to do it now.  Simply put, I needed a Washington Birthday's Sale in September.

The Solution: Martha Washington
I did some research about the time of year and discovered a detail I nearly overlooked. Martha Washington's Birthday was right around the corner.  Aside from "revolutionary" good pricing, I added a band in my emptied storefront window and had them play songs like Yankee Doodle Dandy in addition to favorites by Paul Revere and the Raiders...anything to get people through the door.

The store stayed open until midnight. My brother, dressed like Uncle Sam, handed out gifts and favors all night long. For one night, it was more than a men's retail store: it was a party, a happening, a next-day-water-cooler story in the making.

And it was all thanks to Martha.

The volume was brisk. The margin: better than anticipated. The attention, the newcomers, the happy and enthusiastic customers: it was all a thrill and a rush.

What’s Your Martha Washington’s Birthday Sale? Get Creative!
I share the story with you simply to demonstrate that sometimes you need to be edgy when preparing your arsenal in this war for attention. Sometimes our ideas stick, sometimes they don't. But the important thing is to think strategically about ways to cut through the clutter and to try something new.  

Otherwise, just lay down your sword, wave the white flag, and get used to the fact that the British are coming. Because in this economy, behind every great man, there's a great woman's birthday ready to be unearthed and celebrated.

I always tell my clients, "sometimes you gotta get in the door; get noticed; then you can sell yourself or your product."

Opportunity Knocks
My Dad was so ahead of his time with regard to this mantra. He owned and operated a full-service, truly-customer-care store in a small town in Western Pa, sort of a  Mom and Pop store, carrying work clothes, dry goods, hunting gear, some men's and women's wear, and Boy Scout uniforms and equipment. 

One November, in the early 1950's he was the first merchant in the area to become aware of, and have in stock, something revolutionary...cutting edge, practical, desirable, the golden ticket of merchandise: men's thermal underwear. 

So, what to do with it? Display it in his window? Run an ad in the local paper? Give it prominent floor space? Yeah, eventually, but not at once...not my Dad.

Getting Attention The Old Fashioned Way
The first thing he did was rent a freezer from a local appliance store, remove its lid, put it on the sidewalk right in front of his store. He hired a high school student, fit him up with some thermals, put him in the freezer, filled the freezer with ice, and placed a large sign next to the kid: I AM WEARING THE NEWEST THERMAL UNDERWEAR. I AM NOT COLD....AND WE'RE THE ONLY STORE THAT HAS IT! 

Here's a "pop"quiz for you: How long did it take for my Dad's stock of long johns to sell out? His next two orders went faster than his first!


Tried and True Is Just Plain Tired
Now, here's what I coach my clients to do when writing cover letters, follow up thank-you letters, answering the standard interview questions: it's ok to be edgy...a little out there. 

I implore sales people, fundraisers, professionals, and anyone with donors, customers, patients or their own, clients, even congregants: tried and true is just tired. Be edgy with style and class. Capture and keep their attention.   Once you have, then, it's your time to fulfill your purpose and achieve your goal.