My gosh! Tomorrow is the end of February! Where has the time gone?
I’ve got one more month to reach my 1st quarter goals. I’m slacking on some and doing very well on others. I guess it’s a wash. 
How are you doing on your goals? Have you looked at them recently? Or are they still stuffed in a desk drawer somewhere?
Get ‘em out! Dust them off! Strive to be the best and reach those goals!
What goals are you currently working on? Do you want to retain a new client? Do you want to add a new section to your website? Do you want to start that newsletter? Post a comment here on your goals. Let’s see if we can make them happen!
Until next time…
Heather
Permalink 4 CommentsAn update on Monday’s post.
I was telling my friend Jackie about my experiences Friday night with the waiter. This spawned another conversation where she asks me if I’ve ever had any experiences with the Deli lady at Kroger.
As soon as she mentioned the Deli Lady I knew exactly who she was talking about.
But Jackie proceeded to tell me about how she went to the Deli Saturday morning and it wasn’t crowded and she wanted a half a pound of white American cheese.
Jackie tells me “I’m a good deli counter customer. I know exactly what I want and I don’t stand there and order a quarter pound of everything under the sun.” I had to laugh at that one.
Deli Lady looks at her and says, “I’ll have to open a new pack.”
Now tell me…why is that response needed? Who cares if you have to open a new pack? The customer wants a half a pound of White American cheese. She doesn’t need to know anything about the process of getting that cheese.
Jackie said she thought that she needed to respond, but wasn’t sure how. So she simply said, “okay.”
So we got to talking about how people who don’t like people should work where they don’t need to deal with people. We decided that Deli Lady should work in rotisserie chicken because then she wouldn’t have to deal with people.
We really like Deli Man. He’s friendly and talks to you while he’s slicing your meats and cheeses and really makes the trip to the deli counter enjoyable.
Jackie was also telling me about a man that she works with. When they go into Kroger they hit the Deli first. If Deli Lady is working (regardless of how many people are actually at the Deli counter) the husband can stand at the counter while the wife goes and does all the other shopping. Can you believe this?
Personally, going to the grocery store is not my favorite thing in the world to do. But it’s not so bad when I’ve got nice people to deal with.
I think I’m going to drop a little note to the manager over there and tell him how much I like Deli Man. I won’t mention Deli Lady by name, but I’ll let him know there are some others that don’t make my deli experience so enjoyable.
I’m off my customer service soap box now…
Until next time…
Heather
Permalink 12 CommentsThe Top 10 Signs You Work In Marketing
10. You lecture the neighborhood kids selling lemonade on ways
to improve their look-to-buy ratio.
9. You get all excited when it’s Saturday so you can wear
casual clothes to work.
8. You refer to the tomatoes grown in your garden as “deliverables.”
7. You find you really need PowerPoint to explain what you do for a living.
6. You normally eat out of vending machines and at the most
expensive restaurant in town within the same week.
5. You wear gray to work instead of navy blue to make a
bold fashion statement.
4. You know the people at the airport and hotel better
than your next door neighbors.
3. You ask your friends to “think out of the box” when making Friday
night plans.
2. You think Einstein would have been more effective had he put
his ideas into a matrix.
1. You think a “half-day” means leaving work at 5 o’clock.
From: Josh Billig
Director of Research, Chiat Day
Until next time…
Heather
Permalink 6 CommentsThe Latest Issue of Marketing Made Simple is Now Available!
The February 21st Issue is now available online at
http://www.valleyva.net/Marketing-Made-Simple/Marketing-Made-Simple-feb21.html
In This Issue:
*Off the Cuff — Press Releases Can Be a Powerful Tool
*Featured Article — Press Releases Made Simple
*Marketing Humor — If You Think YOU Have a Bad Job!
*Heather Recommends — Press Release Profits
*Featured Business Owner — Rose DesRochers - Todays-Woman.net
*Marketing Q&A — Follow up from last issue - Article Marketing
Enjoy!
Until next time…
Heather
Permalink 6 CommentsDon’t Work in a Service Based Industry if You Don’t Like People
Please, I beg you. Just don’t do it. You’re not doing anyone any favors. Really. And when it comes down to it, you’re not going to make any money either.
Let me tell you what happened to spur this post.
My friends and I frequent a local Mexican restaurant. We love it. We go all the time. In fact, when Becki Noles of Virtual Accuracy came to visit for the weekend, I took her there. They have the best Mexican food in town.
Not only do they have the best Mexican food in town, they also have REALLY good customer service. I always enjoy myself when I go in there. The waiters joke around. My friends and I are decent with out Spanish so we can have small conversations in Spanish and we have fun.
So when my best friend called me Friday night and said she was going there I jumped at the chance. (Ok, I’ll be honest…I got rid of the household for the weekend and the dinner I was planning consisted of Cheese Nips and a Diet Dr. Pepper at my desk followed by a bowl of ice cream.)
We waited for a table, were seated and sat there forever waiting for someone, anyone to come and take our order.
Fernando finally came over and said “What do you want?” I’m not kidding. That’s a direct quote.
After our initial shock of how we were addressed off the bat we ordered our drinks. (We’re talking Mr. Pibb, Diet Coke, and a Coke here). About 5 minutes later he comes back with three drinks. He holds them up to the light, obviously trying to figure out what was what. It didn’t work and we played musical drinks for awhile.
He finally took our food order and never once smiled. We started watching him with his other tables. The only time this man smiled was when he dropped off the check.
We sat her son’s empty glass on the end of the table. Fernando walked past it three times before we finally flagged him down to refill it. When he brought it back he sat it at the end of the table where we had left it and kept on walking.
Needless to say, I’m getting frustrated by this point.
Out comes our food. He didn’t deliver it and when he checked on us to see how everything was my plate was empty. He left it sitting there.
Now, I’m not one to call a manager over. I don’t like the confrontation and I’d rather just stew to myself. That’s why I bring Sondra with me. She doesn’t stand for that and I’m just waiting for her to say something to the manager. But she doesn’t.
He brings the check. He smiles…imagine that. Now he wants our money. I notice that he didn’t charge us for our drinks. I pull out my credit card and Sondra puts $15 on the table. When he comes back he asks how we’re paying. (Personally, I think it’s pretty obvious that we’re splitting the check and my credit card has my picture on it…but maybe that’s just me.)
I say “I’m paying for the enchiladas and she’s got the rest.”
He looks at me and says, “So I have to split the check?”
I say “Yes, I’m paying for the enchiladas with my card.”
And you will never guess what happened next. This man looked at me and said, “Well I didn’t add your drinks on here, so it’s going to be more.”
By this point in time, I’m fuming and I ask him why he didn’t add the drinks on the check before he brought it over the first time.
He looked at me and said “I was busy and didn’t have time.”
I LOST IT! “I don’t need excuses. Add the drinks to the check and I’m paying, with my card, for one diet Coke and the enchiladas”
He stormed off and I was out of my seat looking for the manager.
The manager was very apologetic and said that he had been watching him all night and saw the issues and that we weren’t the first to complain. He told us not to tip him and that if we were to come back and he was there to request another server.
He came back with out change and receipts after the manager left our table and threw them at us.
It was obvious that this man did not like people and working with people and I just can’t see how he can benefit from this profession.
So, please. If you don’t like people don’t work with them. There are TONS of jobs out there that you can do if you don’t like people. Pick one of them and do us all a favor.
Until next time…
Heather
Permalink 5 Comments