As I stood at the gas pump the other night, shivering as I had forgotten my coat for the cold night time temperatures, I had a moment of insanity. My intent was to put $15 worth of gas in my car. As I neared the $15 dollar mark, I pulsed the handle a few times to hit $15 exactly. When the pump read $15.01, I decided to try for $16. When the pump read $16.01, I aimed for $17.

By the time I reached $18.01, I was frustrated, slammed the nozzle back where it rests, grabbed my receipt and got in the car.

Yes, insanity. Doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results.

As I got back in the car, I stopped to ask myself why hitting an even amount was so important to me. Why did I try to make it even every time I pump gas. It’s the way I’ve always done it. But why?

Because that’s how it used to be.

Follow me?

Growing up, my parents paid cash for gas. Always. Hitting the exact dollar amount was what they did so as to not have to worry about change. When I got my license and car, there were no debit cards and often times, I was scrounging together a few bucks to put gas in my car. In cash. Hitting the exact amount was important. It might be that there was no extra change to go over.

So now that I have a debit card and hitting the exact dollar amount isn’t as important, why do I continually attempt to make it even?

Because it’s ingrained in my behavior.

The same is true for how you run your business.  I’m not saying that just because you’ve always done it one way, you should scratch everything and start over, but what is there is another way to do something?  Just because your predecessor at work did something one way doesn’t mean that it can’t be changed.

If something works, don’t break it.  But is there something that’s working fine that could potentially be better?  Is there an area of your business that’s surviving but could be thriving?  How many things are you just doing because that’s the way it’s always been?

Take some time to think about things you’re doing because they are ingrained, the added stress they might be causing, and then plan a change.

Change isn’t a bad thing. To quote Winston Churchill, “there’s nothing wrong with change, if it’s in the right direction.”

What direction are you heading?

Are you moving forward or are you stuck spinning your wheels?

I have a customer at work — a small business of five employees and while we don’t do much business with him, they have placed two orders with me since January.

The first order was placed Januray 21st, the second mid-February. The latter order came in within the week and was installed. About that time, I found out that the first order had slipped to back order status and would be delayed (for the second time) to March 5th.

Keep in mind that the customer needs the product to deploy a new accounting software that will change the way that they do business. The server had been ordered and installed; the software was sitting there unused because they are waiting on the last piece of the puzzle.

On March 4th, I emailed the customer to let him know that the following day, I would be tracking down that order. I sent word on the 5th to find out where it was and received no response.

On Monday, May 8th, I still hadn’t heard back on the status, but I heard from my customer. By the end of the day, I got word that the product was delayed again until June 6th. A cancellation was eminent.

I emailed my boss, sent the SOS if you will, that we needed to get creative to make this right for the customer. Together, we ran it up the flagpole to the owner of the company and pulled in all the resources that we could and when I called the customer back, I had to relay the bad news about the delay, but I presented him with a solution.

Was it what he wanted? No.

Would it work just as good if not better than the original product?

Yes.

Had he cancelled after the solution was offered, I would’ve understood. But I can’t, in good conscious, tell someone that it can’t be done. There’s always a solution.

I don’t post this to toot my own horn.

I post this because I think it’s important to always put the customer’s needs first. There might be times that you can’t do exactly what they want. Things happen.

But you can always get creative, making you look like the rock star in the end.

How do you feel about customer service? Do you think that it has to be a dying art? How can we revive it?

*not my quote… I saw it online… credit, anonymous

So, you have a Facebook account and you’ve probably seen updates & Event invites announcing “Meet-ups or Tweet-ups” where online friends get together and meet offline. The problem? Most of this happens during the day…while you & I are at work… Not anymore.

Introducing #rkeUnwind

#rkeUnwind is a group of people that come together to meet and talk about what’s relevant & important to them (in more than 140 characters) at a local eatery. There are no formal agendas. There is no dress code. You can have 5 Twitter accounts or simply want to know why you should have even 1 account and, most importantly, what you should probably do with it.

The best part? We’ll be “unwinding” after the work day is done.

There’s power in #’s. (Read that as “numbers” or a hash tag because the statement is true of both.) And, together, we’ll figure this web thing out… Don’t understand why the hash tag is important? Come out and find out!

Join us for our inaugural gathering Thursday, March 18, 2010 from 5-7pm at 202 Market. Come meet old friends, make new friends, and have a great time…

Oh…and btw… yes… there will be prizes!

In true social media fashion, don’t forget to tweet your heart out about it… and follow us on twitter @rkeunwind…

We’ll see you there!

PS: Want more info? Ask any of these ppl…it was their idea.

Josh Heather Marty

Webster defines “social” in this manner:

Main Entry: ¹so·cial

1 : involving allies or confederates <the SocialWar between the Athenians and their allies>
2 a : marked by or passed in pleasant companionship with one’s friends or associates<leads a very full social life> b : sociable c : of, relating to, or designed for sociability <a social club>
3 : of or relating to human society, the interaction of the individual and the group, or the welfare of human beings as members of society <social institutions>
4 a : tending to form cooperative and interdependent relationships with others of one’s kind : gregarious b : living and breeding in more or less organized communities <social insects> c of a plant : tending to grow in groups or masses so as to form a pure stand
5 a : of, relating to, or based on rank or status in a particular society <a member of our social set> b : of, relating to, or characteristic of the upper classes c :formal
6 : being such in social situations <a social drinker>

In every single definition of the word, more than one person is involved.  So when it comes to your social networking, is there more than one person involved?

Yes, you may have more than one person in your network, but are you interacting with them?

Are you engaging them in conversation?

Are you reaching out to them to get to know them?

Moreover, do you even know who the majority of your followers are or do you follow every one you can with the hopes that they will follow you back?  And do you follow every one who follows you?

I ask these questions of you, because you should be asking them of yourself.  Social networking should not be a billboard for you to simply talk about yourself, your product, or your business.

Can you do these things? Absolutely!  I’m not saying that you shouldn’t.  But it’s not the only thing that you should be talking about.

I get slightly hot under the collar when I see someone who has 52,000 followers, yet only follows 121 people.

It annoys me to look at their stream and see links to their business and products, but no interaction with other people.

The reality of it is, engaging people, whether it be on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or any other social media outlet is about getting involved.

I know that social media takes time to manage.  Even with just 300+ followers, I have to find ways to make it all work.  But, my goal is to respond to everyone who reaches out to me.  I attempt to learn more about each of my new followers.  I also retweet and share comments from others to help them spread the word.

If you’re not interacting with your followers, please consider doing so.  You’ll find that your true network will grow, true relationships will form, and your business will flourish much faster.

Pulled from the Archives…

Saturday was a beautiful, abnormally warm March day in Southwest Virginia. The kids and I decided that we would plant some fruit, vegetables, and flowers. We decided on porch plants because I do not have a green thumb and we wanted to start with something small and idiot proof. I have yet to keep a plant alive, even the ones that people swore I couldn’t kill.

It’s not that I don’t like plants; I do. I think they are beautiful. I love to eat fresh fruit and vegetables. But for whatever reason, this whole watering thing baffles me, and I completely forget to water them.

We repotted Matthew’s third grade project, his over sized cabbage that will grow to be more than 40 pounds. We also planted strawberries, tomatoes, grape tomatoes, and sunflowers. But here is where I struggle. When I woke up this morning, there sat 7 pots that just had dirt in them – no buds, no blooms, and no sign of life.

As a society, we have come to expect things instantaneously. We have microwaves to cook meals faster, online banking to expedite money transfers, and email to eliminate the time it takes for a letter to make it through the Postal Service. As a whole, we want things now.

Our businesses are no different. We send out a direct mail piece and we want something from it immediately. We submit an article and expect the traffic soon thereafter. We submit our press release and expect some kind of coverage within a day or so. We hang out our open sign and become disappointed when we don’t have some sort of bite right away.

Here is what we fail to realize, and I’m just as guilty as the next guy. With our businesses, we must plant our seeds, nurture them, and provide them what they need to flourish before we will see the results – the fruits of our labor.

The next time you feel discouraged because you have put so much time and energy into your business and have nothing to show for it, stop and smell the roses. Then realize that they weren’t planted yesterday.

With the increase of communication via the internet, more and more people are putting it all out there on sites like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, personal blogs, etc.  Some take advantage of the privacy options offered, either protecting all of their Facebook page, protecting their Twitter updates, or password protecting their blog, but what about the people you HAVE invited into your space?

I am saddened many times with the Tweets that I see during the day, ones complaining about a client, a boss, a husband.

Often times, I don’t think we realize how far a tweet can go…or how long a comment can be indexed.  It’s something that I remind the teens in my youth group on regularly.

These bright, young people will soon be faced with the task of applying to colleges and eventually jobs.  Their internet history will follow them if they aren’t careful.

That same advice should be given to adults as well.

But take it off line.

The person you hung up on because you sensed it was another telemarketer…could they be a potential client?

Yes.

The parent sitting next to you at your child’s tee-ball game that you made an inappropriate comment to… could they be a potential customer?

Yes.

The world is smaller than we think.

A few weeks ago, I called a company to set up an appointment.  Before I could even get out my name, the lady hung up on me.  I won’t be referring that company to anyone.  I only refer people to companies where I know they will get treated like a person.

Later on in the week, I showed up at an appointment only to realize that the man I was meeting with coached my son in football a few years ago.  Do you think I did a quick rewind of the history to make sure that I might never offended him?

I did and fortunately, I was pretty sure that there wasn’t anything I needed to be worried about.

Word travels fast.

Make sure the message you’re sending is a positive one; one that reflects who you are, the type of business you conduct, and a reason for someone to tell the world about you.

I asked a question on Twitter yesterday:

Do you believe that you are born an entrepreneur or do you think that you can learn it?

The answer?  Most all think that some people are born with it but that it is something that can be learned.

Fine.

I can accept that.

The reason I asked?

My son came home with a box of 50 candy bars to sell for band.  He makes 50% of the profit and what he makes is applied to the cost of his field trip at the end of the year.

He called and asked if he could sell them outside the gas station across the street.  I told him I didn’t care as long as he asked the manager.  In my mind, I was saying, “Really?  Because it’s like negative 50 outside and you want to go sell candy bars?”

To me, the $25 he was going to earn was worth paying so as to not have to go out and peddle things people don’t need.

But my son, age 13, is not the average 13 year old.

When I arrived to the house, I glanced across the street and saw him decked out like Nanook of the North, a box of candy bars in his hand.

What’s more?  There was a smile on his face.  I stood and watched him for a moment, noticing, that he was saying hello to every customer that walked by him as they entered the store.

I was proud of him for braving the cold to earn money for his trip.  I certainly wouldn’t do it.  Not wanting him to be discourage at his lack of sales, I took the three younger kids over and let them each buy a candy bar.  That way, he wouldn’t get skunked.

I took him some pizza and a little TV tray to put his candy bars on.  He was still smiling.

No sooner did I start on my second piece of pizza, the door flew open, and with rosey red cheeks he stated, “I’m sold out.”

“You sold 50 candy bars in 45 minutes?” I asked, astounded.

His sister, who had gone along to “help” shouts, “Some guy bought all of his candy so he didn’t have to stand in the cold anymore!”

“How many did you have left?” I asked.

“Forty-two,” he said.

Yes, you read that right.  A kind citizen bought $42 worth of candy from my son because he recognized that my son was going above and beyond what most 13 year olds would do with a box of candy to raise money.

My son never asked me to sell it at work.  My son never asked me if he HAD to sell it.  My son immediately spotted an opportunity to sell the candy and acted on it.

Because of that, he was rewarded.

“High achievers spot rich opportunities swiftly, make big decisions quickly and move into action immediately. Follow these principles and you can make your dreams come true.”  Robert H. Schuller

Today, he brought home another box of candy.  His goal is to have his trip completely paid for.

While he knows that someone buying 42 candy bars isn’t the norm, he also knows that standing outside the gas station in the cold will yield more sales than asking Mom to take them to work.

Was he born with it?  Has he learned it?

I don’t know the answer to that question, but what I do know?

Watch out for that child in the future.

He gets it.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see him on Handshake 2.0.

Now if only my daughter had the same mentality…

My intention for this blog is very different than my intentions for Desperately Seeking Sanity. There I can showcase my personality, humor, wit, and core being.

Notice, I didn’t say intelligence.

It’s not that I can’t say something insanely insightful or smart on that platform, but the reality is, I don’t.  With a blog named “Desperately Seeking Sanity” you don’t expect it.  You expect humor.  You expect wit.  You expect a glimpse into my personal search for sanity.

Whether I live up to that expectation?  I don’t know.  But Desperately Seeking Sanity is the place where I go to just write whatever it is that happens to be on my mind at the time — whether it be serious or funny.  In essence, it’s the dump for the thoughts that consume my brain on a personal level.

What you don’t often see over there or on Twitter is the piece of my brain that is always thinking about the business/work aspect of my life.  You don’t see the ideas that I come up with, the thoughts I have on relationship building, or the depths that my brain will go to come up with the next big thing.

You see, I know that I am a very intelligent woman.  I know that I am smarter than the average bear.  And while I love the outlet that I have to showcase my personality, I wanted a place where I could showcase my brain as well.  Because I fully believe that I have thoughts and ideas that could help others when it comes to sales, marketing, social networking, job hunting and more.

You might call this conceit, but I call it the confidence that I’ve been missing for a long time.

But when you revamp a blog, put it out there, and tell people that it’s your avenue for sharing your smarts?  It tends to apply a little pressure because then you feel like you’re looking for something smart to say… many times coming up empty handed.

Such was the case yesterday.

When I revamped this blog, I knew that I couldn’t do so without committing to myself that I would post regularly.  I didn’t define regularly, but in my mind, I was targeting two to three times a week.

And since then, I’ve been looking for smart things to say.  I have so many drafts started that I couldn’t quite bring together like I was hoping.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to go back to them at some point in time and craft them a little more coherently.

But as I stared at the computer screen yesterday, a blank window in front of me begging for brilliant words to flow from my brain to my fingers, I realized I had nothing.

Not knowing what else to do, I tweeted.

i had planned on writing something that made me look insanely smart today… but i’m thinking today isn’t the day. maybe tomorrow.

It wasn’t long before I had a response from @writegud

that’s smarter than you think

I noodled on that all night and when I woke up this morning, his comment was still churning in my mind.

How much truth is really in that?  Do we apply too much pressure on ourselves when it comes to our commitment to blogging, tweeting, posting, etc?

Do we login to these sites and dump whatever comes to mind without truly thinking about what we are writing and whether or not it’s our best work?  Are we focusing on QUANTITY and not QUALITY?

And in this age, which is more important?

Can I tell you what I’ve come up with?

Can I also tell you that you’re going to groan when you hear my answer?

It’s BALANCE.

Yes, there is a balance between quantity and quality.  There is a line that you can work, one that still gives you a presence yet brings forth your best.

So, do I still feel there’s a magic number for how many posts per week I need to be averaging?  Do I still feel that the more followers I have, the better? Do I still feel like I’ve got to be everywhere, every day?

Yes and no.

And that’s where I need to find my balance.

So, I’m asking you… what’s the balance that you’ve found (or are looking for) when it comes to showcasing yourself, your business, etc?  Do you feel that you have to post something every day or are you of the opinion that you’ll only post when you have something worth sharing?

I attend a meeting weekly (or almost weekly if there are so school delays or sick kids) in which we talk about the various uses of social networking.  Many of the members of the group are currently using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc but some of the people who come are there so that they can learn about these mediums and how they can use them to better market their business.

My first response to anyone is “don’t just use it to market your business.  Use it to build relationships.”  And I’ll stand by that until the day that I die.

However, there are certain people who I feel are excluded from the advice that I give and they are the News Media outlets.  Yes, I would LOVE if the local paper or tv stations would engage in conversation, but the reality of it is, very few do.

And that’s okay.  I follow them because I don’t have time to sit down and watch the news, but I want to know what’s going on in the area that I live.  With Twitter, I’m able to scan the headline and see if it’s something that affects me.  If it is, I can read it.  If not, I simply ignore it.

So while they don’t follow the “rules” of why these types of sites were created, I do believe that they have every right, and there is a demand for them.

However, I don’t feel they are get the most out of them and feel that they are failing their followers, and losing out on the potential that they could have.  In other words?  They’re missing the boat.  And they’re missing out on potential viewers, which in turn means their missing out on potential ratings points.

And in the TV world?  Rating points equals profit.

We all know that tv stations are most notable known for their news.  Weather is the umbrella.  Most people chose their news station based on who they feel does a better job in the weather arena.  Ok, fine.  That’s just how it is, for the most part.

However, there is more to a TV station than just news.

In looking at the three local ABS, CBS, and NBC stations… all of which I follow, only tweet their top headlines.  All are done through TwitterFeed or API.  They are working off of the set it and forget it mode.

Ok, fine.

But you’re missing something,

As someone who doesn’t watch much TV (as I’m sure many of you can relate), I don’t know new programs that are coming out.  I don’t know the dates and times that they premiere.  I’m not up to snuff on the dates that the holiday kids specials air.

Last night was a perfect example.

Did you know that Charlie Brown’s Valentine was on?  I didn’t.  And I’m sure many of you didn’t either.  (Not sure how many of you cared, but I did.  Those are things that my family enjoys.)  Promoting shows on the TV is great, if people are watching already.  We aren’t.

But on a much larger scale, if I don’t currently watch any shows on CBS, how am I to know that the Heros vs Villans starts tonight?

As a former TV gal, one whose job it was to make the ratings look good, the best way to get people to know about something new is to promote it.  Running a promo in the news?  That costs money.

Tweeting it out to your followers?  That’s free.

This morning, WDRL, a local television station not associated with the top 4 networks, posted the lunch time programming that they were airing.  Because the kids were out of school, I passed the information on to them.

It’s not uncommon for WDRL to post the sporting events or special programming that they are airing.  It’s not uncommon for WDRL to retweet something or to personalize their message.

But I also know that the “twit” behind @WDRL24?  He’s personally responsible for every tweet that is sent, and 99.9% of the time, it’s from his cell phone.

To me, that’s impressive.  He’s reaching out to a larger audience.  And the chances of him gaining a new viewer, unfamiliar with the programming on WDRL, has increased.

He gets it.

So TV program directors?  I’m challenging you.  Get involved in the tweeting.  Tell your potential viewers what you have to offer!  Engage in a conversation with your followers so that you can see what they think of your programming.

In a hypenated, diary market, such as the Roanoke-Lynchburg DMA, you can’t always rely on Nielsen to tell the truth.

But you can depend on the vocal residents that are literally, right at your fingertips.

Just some food for thought…

Until next time…

You knew this.

We all “know” this.. in theory.

I say in theory because I hear people talk all the time about how important relationships are, but I don’t see the actions to back the words.

In essence, we’re talking the talk, but are we walking the walk?

We’re busy, things are going on, and sometimes, maintaining those relationships can, reaching out to our clients or customers gets pushed down a little further down on our to do list.

We think about sending that card to congratulate our client on their award and some how, some way, it moves right off our never ending to-do list.

But there are people that are walking that walk every day.

And people are noticing.

I urge you to head over to Josh Perrington’s blog and read his latest post about “our” place.  Only it’s not just “our” place.  (He business cheats on me with the likes of some other guys.  Clearly, he has a few issues.  But don’t hold that against him.  And I’m pretty sure he’s never referred to it as “our” place.  But when Josh and I have ideas to pour over?  That’s where we go.  Short of the families getting together, I’ve never met him anywhere else!)

It’s a post that, while I wanted to expound upon, I can’t seem to find the words to say it any better than he did.

It shows the value of excellent customer service while tugging on the heart strings.

And makes me very excited about #MargaritaMondays.

(Read the post and you’ll understand.)

When walking that walk?

Just remember…

Investing involves more than just money.

The return is greater than you will ever expect.