I wish there were a special pair of glasses I could purchase that would allow others to see things the same way I see them in my head.

I wish I could allow people into my brain similar to the way it works in the movie Being John Malkovich. It would allow people to see what I see, with little explanation needed on my part.

I have to keep working at being a better story teller. 

Vision yields Stories which result in Acceptance which ultimately leads to Action.

When I have the opportunity to be introduced to a new potential client, I normally will schedule a call to discuss their needs, and their current situation. I find these calls to be great fact-finding calls, and during the conversation it helps me better understand exactly what challenges the potential client are facing, and how we might be able to help them.

During this first one-hour call, I always try and throw out some ideas and some suggestions that they can use immediately. I want to emphasize that I'm not simply sharing basic information that I've shared with others in the past, but instead I tend to provide specific answers to their questions that they have today that pertain only to their business.

I do this at no cost, and if they choose not to retain us as their marketing consulting group, they just received some meaningful free advice. Other consultants that I know think I'm crazy, and they say that I'm just giving away knowledge which ultimately devalues my work.

I think just the opposite. First of all, if I have to worry that I am giving away the majority of my knowledge in a one-hour call, I have bigger problems than a reduced revenue stream. I hope I have more than a simple hour's worth of intelligence and insight.

Secondly, I am a big believer in Tryvertising. In my book (no I haven't written a book yet, just using the phrase), there is no better advertising vehicle than people trying the product or service for a short period of time, giving them a taste of what they can expect, and then following that up with a proposal or offering. It puts the prospect in the position of anticipating your proposal or offer, and being eager to receive it.

Its like sampling yogurt in the dairy aisle in the supermarket. Let the customer have a few spoonfuls, and if they like it, they might purchase 3 cups to take home with them.

Think about this in your business. What can you share with your customer, client, prospect for free? How can you whet their appetite for more?

I met with two people yesterday, one in person and one by phone, both for the first time. After they had searched information about us on the internet, and found us with a significant web presence, they both asked the same question:

"So tell me, what is it that you and your firm really do? On what do you concentrate your efforts?"

Ouch!

We have a web site for our consulting group.

We have a landing page for my professional speaking.

We have a blog.

We have a Linked-In site.

We have a Twitter feed.

We blog regularly on Retail Wire.

We have a Flickr page.

We have a Squidoo page.

We review books on Amazon.

With all of this, our message is still not clear as to what the focus of our business is. Some companies that get this response would ask the question, "how can people not get this?" Instead I have to ask the question, "how can we better communicate what we do, and make it more clear."

This is our failing, not the failing of our community. 

This is what I love about marketing. No matter what you do, and no matter how well you can execute, you can always do better. You can always make the message clearer, more compelling, more meaningful, with more impact.

Time to work on a better pair of shoes.

1. Think you are smarter than your customers.

Believe that your customers simply "don't get it", and that they don't have the ability to understand what it is your are telling them. Believe that it will take some time for your customers to gain the knowledge that you have.

2. Think you are smarter than your suppliers and advisers.

Ask a lot of questions, and receive a lot of advice from the people with whom you have hired, and then listen to little of it due to the fact that it is not what you want to hear.

3. Believe that you are irreplaceable.

There is no one who understands this business better than you. No one can do what you do.

4. Believe that people are more loyal to you than they are.

Your employees will do whatever you ask them to do. They will follow you wherever you lead them. They trust you implicitly. And if someone else came into the business to run things, they would simply leave.

5. Stop listening.

There are so many ways to listen to what is happening in the marketplace. Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, YouTube, Newsletters, Industry RSS Feeds, it is simply overwhelming. You simply don't have the time, so just ignore it all, and eventually it will go away.

6. Ignore the "warning signs" as they come in.

Your sales are slipping, it must be the economy. Customers are leaving, their business must be bad. People stop buying your product, it must be due to the fact that their cash flow is bad and they're cutting back.

7. Believe in your own hype.

Google your name once a week and see how many times you or your company comes up in a search. If you are so Googleiscious, you must be doing something right, right?.

8. Stop taking risks.

Relax, enjoy the fruits of your labor. Things have gone well, so why rock the boat.

9. Stop innovating. Just keep doing what you're doing.

Your products or services have sold well over the years, why would you want to start worrying about innovation now. Your current products are what got you to where you are today, and innovation is really expensive. Leave innovation to the people at Apple

10. Continue to use the phrase, "because that's just the way we do things."

Start your day every morning by listening to Bruce Hornsby's "The Way It Is". The refrain can become your mantra:

"That's just the way it is. Some things will never change. That's just the way it is."

Think about it....

There were many people who disagreed with this statement. When I subsequently mentioned it to friends over the weekend, they too said that I was wrong. They informed me that when Friday rolls around, their business life stops, and doesn't start again until Monday. They further suggested that the fact that I don't separate my professional life from my business life was my failing, and that I should structure my life better.

Well, to paraphrase Ed Harris' line in the movie Apollo 13 (one of my favorites):

"With all due respect, what you see as my biggest failing is actually what I see as my greatest success".

You see, in my opinion, all of the people who like to point out that all I do is work, and that I have no separation between my personal and professional life don't understand how I arrived to this point. I absolutely love what I do, and for me, there is little difference between work and play, because when I work, I love what I'm learning, love what I'm achieving, love what I'm accomplishing, love the challenge that work brings. My professional life allows me to do what others only dream about, and who wouldn't want to live in a world where dreams come true.

What's my point? Simply this.

If you find work for which you have passion, for which you enjoy immensely, for which you describe with love, it no longer is really work. It is simply a great life. And you would never want to separate yourself from a great life.

I'm fortunate. I formed a life in which I can pursue my passion, and the idea of separating personal from professional seems counter-intuitive. I can only suggest that you seek to do the same for yourself, find work which allows you to pursue your passion. We are all capable, it is simply a matter of wanting it badly enough. No matter what it is you do for a living.

Tell me if you think I'm unrealistic.

Is it simply ego?

Is it simply greed?

Is it simply that he doesn't understand brand dilution?

I know he's successful. I know he's wealthy. I know he creates some great press. I know that the Trump "brand" is extremely well known.

But isn't this a brand extension that simply shouldn't happen? Like Trump steaks. Like Trump Ice. Like Trump, The Game. Doesn't he understand that all of these various products devalue his overall brand?

I'm embarrassed for him. And I don't know about you, but I'm tired of hearing about the Trump Network pre-launch opportunity. Just launch the company already, so it can fail within a few years, so we can read about all of the people who have lost money due to the enrollment fees that they paid, so we can read about the executives who defend their pre-failure actions, and ultimately read why Trump says that he is the real victim because he never realized what his "partners" were doing, and they have damaged his reputation, and his name.

Anyone want to take bets when this brand extension bites the dust? This has nightmare written all over it.

In recognition of Sesame Street's 40th anniversary, today's blog is brought to you by the word,

TRUST

It is an interesting word, because it can be used in so many ways...

Trust me

I bank at the Northern Trust

My grandparents were wealthy and they left me an inheritance in a Trust

She is a very trustworthy person

But no matter how it is used, whether it is as a noun, verb or adjective, it never loses its meaning. When you think of trust you think of honesty, competency, genuineness, security, relief, worry-free, and the list continues.

Trust is what we all strive for in marketing, isn't it? When we advertise our product, aren't we  in essence saying "Trust me when I share with you the following information"? When we choose the packaging for our product or service, whether it is a box for a new cookie snack or the outside cover for a PowerPoint presentation, we strive to have our package say "Trust Me", you will love what's inside. When we are looking for a job, or trying to make a sale, and we are marketing our personal brand, aren't we ultimately just asking the employer or prospective customer to trust that we can do the job?

I often say that marketing is about telling a great story. I still believe that to be the case. But I think I need to revise it to say that marketing is about telling a great story, and it needs to be a story that people trust is true.

Yesterday's Blog Post

Yesterday was an interesting day, and I wanted to share with you why there wasn't a blog post. My 82 year old mother fell and broke her hip while shopping in a grocery store on Tuesday. So yesterday was spent flying back to Chicago from Nashville where I had been speaking, rushing to the hospital, anticipating the surgery that was going to take place yesterday afternoon, only to see it get canceled due to some slight complications. My mother is doing as well as can be expected, and hopefully we will see the surgery take place today. Crazy day!

As you can imagine, one doctor after another came into my mother's room. The nurses, who are great, also spent a considerable amount of time with my Mom, making her comfortable, and answering her questions.

But no matter what they told her was happening, and why certain things were being done, she never felt 100% comfortable with their explanations. She kept asking for her doctor, and due to the fact that he was busy, it was hours before he was able to make it to her room.

Finally, at 4:00 a.m. this morning, her doctor made his rounds at the hospital, and filled my Mom in on everything that is happening. Which when she shared with me, I mentioned to her that it was no different than what she was told yesterday by all of the other medical professionals. I pointed out to her that yesterday, she questioned what she was hearing, but today, she was calm and accepting of the information.

And, as only an 82 year old mother can say to her son in a tone that was perfected by her 30+ years as a school teacher, "Joel, I know it is the same information. But I wanted to hear it from MY doctor. He is the only one I trust."

Interesting how TRUST makes all the difference in the world.

I am in Nashville today, meeting with students from multiple marketing and business classes at Middle Tennessee State University. Possibly tomorrow I'll share with you how this all came about. But today, I want to relate a quick story about something that I came across at Chicago's O'Hare Airport, prior to my departure.

Walking through Terminal #2 at O'Hare, I happened across a large kiosk named the Airport Privacy Haven. It looked as if it was a permanent structure, but interestingly enough, I flew out of the same terminal the previous week, and this structure wasn't there at that time.

If you know me at all, you know that I can't just walk by something like this without asking questions. 

It ends up that it was put there by 3M, to create a conversation about their 3M Privacy Filters, a filter that sits on your computer screen to inhibit others from seeing what you are typing. Great for people who fly and like to work on their laptops, and are concerned about the person sitting in the seat next to them who chose to bring nothing to read for the 8-hour flight to London, and the only thing they seem to be reading is the PowerPoint presentation on which you are working diligently to complete.

Jerry, the person manning the kiosk, invited me in to sit in one of the five EXTREMELY comfortable chairs, all with power outlets and small desks, and invited me to stay as long as I liked. When asked how long the kiosk structure was going to be in place, he informed me that it was there for a month, and then they were moving on. They are also doing this in other airports as well, he said.

Here is the interesting thing. There were no brochures about the privacy filters at the kiosk, Jerry had no sales pitch, there was no web address at the chair inviting me to log on for more information, no hard sell. Nothing to sell me on their product. Just a "haven" to have a little privacy.

My traveling companion assumed I was going to write a negative blog due to the fact that 3M was missing the opportunity to share more information with the consumer. But I think they are smart, and they simply want people to be aware of the product, and to talk about it, if the opportunity exists. And they have the money to do this.

Is that a smart approach? Well, it worked on me; I blogged about it. What do you think, too soft of a sell, or a great strategic approach to selling "privacy"?

I have a minority ownership in another company, and my name remains on some of the contracts, and therefore I am listed as the point of contact. On Friday, I received the following email from a company with whom I have had a business relationship since 1990, which is, count 'em, 19 years.

Here is the email, in its entirety, with the confidential information removed, indicated by the brackets:

Dear Mr. Warady:

I am writing to bring to your attention that the pricing agreement dated January 7, 2008 for the [Product Name] will expire on December 31, 2009.  With that in mind, this letter also serves as a 60-day notice of the price increase that we will implement on January 1, 2010. Your new price for the [Product Name] will be $xx.xx per [quantity].  While we are happy to continue to extend Net-30 terms, all other terms and conditions of the agreement dated January 7, 2008 will lapse upon expiration of the agreement.  

As you are aware, we are committed to two more shipments in 2009 (November and December) under your old price of $xx.xx per [quantity]. If you will kindly confirm these remaining purchase orders, we will process and ship accordingly.  

Thank you,

Bradley

That is the entire email. After 19 years of doing business, obviously they still want to do business with me because they are letting me know of a price increase. But nowhere in the email is there a thank-you for my 19 years of business. Nowhere is there an apology that they have to raise prices, again! Nowhere is there an explanation as to why they need to raise prices. Nothing! Just a matter of fact email, that sounds as if it was written by a machine. Or worse, from my attorney. Not even an offer to discuss it further. For that matter, they didn't have the decency to call; they simply sent an email

Then companies wonder why they lose customers. Guess what. This company just lost me. I'm moving on, after 19 years of loyalty. As far as I'm concerned, they are fired! There are other companies that sell a similar product to this one, and I'm going to make the switch. Simply because they did not indicate to me that they appreciated my business. How can companies be so misguided in their approach to business? How hard is it to say, Thank-you.

What do you think? Am I overreacting? Let me know.

campaign. In this  pretty impressive initiative, the company is going to select a few Coke sponsored "Happiness Ambassadors" who will travel throughout the world, visiting the 206 countries in which Coca Cola products are sold. These ambassadors are looking to find examples of happiness in each country, and will communicate their findings through various social media platforms.

Which reminds me of the fact that there are not a whole lot of new ideas, just old ideas newly packaged. 

Here is one of the most famous Coke commercials ever. This aired on televison in 1971, as the war in Vietnam was raging. At the time, the world was seeking some happiness, some peace. Coke took it upon themselves to be Ambassadors of Happiness even then. The result was a commercial that was exteremly well received by the American public.

An idea that worked in 1971, still looks like it might be a good idea 31 years later. Good ideas seldom die, they simply get repackaged. 

Enjoy the video.