Las Vegas Strip with City Center - Nan Palmero

I love Las Vegas! Not for the gambling, the sin, the late nights or the shows. The shows are good but my love goes towards the outcome of dreamers like Steve Wynn and the many others who have created a city of architectural awesomeness. The technology, the lights, and the Bellagio Fountains with an incredible music serenade. So many people I know do not like Las Vegas and one thought is that perhaps they are not seeing the flowers for the weeds.  The see, feel, touch, experience can be unreal if you open the senses and, of course, your palate to the incredible foods.  My take away from this trip is huge from incredible speakers, including some one on one time with Bob Bloom and John Assaraf.

My biggest take away, though, is the need to continue to dream and dream BIG. We are limited by ourselves and our environment!  I realized that too many times in my life I have put self constraints on success, happiness and my ability to think big.  Friends and family can be a huge influence on our thinking and ability to dream big or constrain our dreaming. Who are you dreaming with and do you remember how to dream?   For me, Las Vegas is stimulus to think bigger, do bigger things and be part of something bigger than myself.

Today I was traveling From San Antonio to Big Spring, Texas and I landed in the Midland/Odessa Airport.  I had forgotten my prepared itinerary for my trip, so I did not know what rental car company I needed to visit.  The first one I noticed was Enterprise with two ladies looking very angry.  They had no customers and were staring off into space, each with a scowl.   At about 15’ away I started laughing out loud and called out to them asking “Who are you angry with?” There was a third lady with a smile who kindly told me I did not have a reservation with them.

Remember, people are watching you.  Are you smiling and living your company or organization’s brand?

Photo by Theklan

I often fly Southwest Airlines.  With four flights in two days moving a variety of passengers from professional to blue collar workers of all ages, one thing stood out…how few people said “thank you” to the flight attendants when offered peanuts, drinks or when a request was fulfilled. I sat next to a lady about 70+ years old with a special request, Wheat Thins. She never said “please” or “thank you” after they looked for her. I should have thanked them for her.

After this experience, I asked one of the flight attendants what percentage of the time he thought he got a “thank you.” He said about 30 percent. I am now going to ask them all on every flight.  Why? We need to remember the magic words of “please” and “thank you.”  It’s the right thing to do AND it sells or un-sells!

Thank you for reading and subscribing to our blog!

The past few weekends have been brilliant in proving that audiences vary all over the world.  Two different events with which I had a personal experience painted a vivid picture.  First, the iPad launch.  I’ve read a number of tweets, blogs and even a clip on Modern Family asking why someone needs an iPad.  It’s not really a computer, ebook reader or netbook.  It’s just…different and it’s at $500 in it’s least expensive form.  But you can read books on it!  You know where else you can read books?  In books.  Consider Luis Soriano, who has a “biblioburro” or a “library donkey” in Magdalena, Colombia.  Children in his part of Colombia will walk up to 40 minutes to get to school.  He’ll ride 5 to 8 hours to get books to kids.  The iPad’s price, need for electricity and web seem preposterous in those terms.  Think of all the books we could buy in developing countries!  Nonetheless, Apple raked in about $150 million in sales the first weekend.

Nan Palmero | BlackBerry Power User

I received a call this week from a close friend regarding her annual review. She described how her boss explained to her that they really liked how dependable and trustworthy she was in her position. The quality of her work is of the highest caliber. Her boss then explained that he felt that she needed to do more work – she needed to take on more projects and more responsibilities. He felt as if she hadn’t been doing enough. Cue the sinking feeling.

Nan Palmero | BlackBerry Power User

Have you ever been told “that person can do no wrong in your eyes” or “give the guy another chance, he’s a really nice person”?  This past week I found out that those preconceived notions have a name: Hypothesis Bias or Confirmation Bias.  In the case of someone you may not like, you’ll look for comments, actions and intonations to help support your reason for not liking that said person.  On the other hand, for a person that you’re fond of, you’ll easily gloss over flaws and mistakes simply because that person is held in high esteem.

Nan Palmero | BlackBerry Power User

My mornings usually start the same way; with me sleepily stepping into the gym.  I turn on my music, put one foot in front of the other on the “dreadmill,” lift weights, get cleaned up and head to work.  I’ve met a few people at the gym, but chat rarely.  You can count on a “good morning” or “hello” and a warm smile as I rest during reps, while the headphones blare.  I may be guilty of yelling my greetings due to the volume (don’t judge me).  Today, though, I plopped down on a machine, started my exercise and a friend came and sat beside me, so I pulled the headphones off.  After we exchanged pleasantries, I kept the music off.  I noticed something.  The sounds of people breathing, the weights clanging, more huffing, sighing and grunting from those people around me.  The silence and the sounds between those seemingly random noises affected me.

Nan Palmero | BlackBerry Power User

We live our lives based on social conventions where we want some sort of relationship, no matter how fleeting it is, before we want to help someone.  I know that I’m guilty of this mentality.  Do you have an internal monologue that goes something like this: “What? You want my help? You want to inconvenience me? Ugh. I don’t really know you OR you haven’t gone through the right channels to be able to ask for that.”  This is typical and no one would be surprised if you thought that way when a stranger asked for a favor.  Dr. Cialdini, professor at the University of Arizona even talks about the importance of reciprocity.

Last year, most businesses experienced people not making decisions. Two of the reasons they did not make decisions:

1. Buyers did not have to buy and they could prolong the decision to not spend money
2. Buyers did not have clarity from the seller on what benefit they might get. In fact, most indecision is caused by having only 24% of the knowledge and information needed.

Good news:

2010 can be better or even great, but your messages will need to reflect absolute clarity. You have 10 seconds to pitch. The sooner you have me selling ME on buying your product or service and you stop talking, you win.

Consider these tips to help you win:

Turn your features into benefits
The benefits are why I should care
The reason to believe you are able to deliver that benefit closes the sale
If you are not unique, you’d better be cheap. If you are unique you better be able to tell me how and why in 10 seconds.

Ready, Set, GO!

Photo by San Antonio Photography

Years ago I wrote a short paper on de-motivation in the work place and steps to overcome it. I have referenced this many times in our posts and at events we speak at. We have people who write us on advice on how to deal with a de-motivator in the workplace, friends and clients. This post is geared to the bosses, leaders, managers and supervisors since the word has not gotten out.

Take this for example: You hear your employees laughing, joking, having fun.

You do the following:

A. Have a meeting to discuss lack of productivity
B. Yell at them to get them to quiet down
C. Have a talk with them to make them more serious
D. Join in and find out how to do this all the time, every day

A, B, and C, can be complete assumptions unless you know for sure productivity has been hampered. My office has their most productive days when we are having fun. D may not be the answer for everyone and maybe not even be for some but at least you should ask. If one person is disturbed by the enjoyment of others, they may need to have more privacy or move locations within the office.