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Electric Impulse Communications, Inc. Newsletter
September 2007
- Herbie's Helpful Hint
- Who Said It?
- III. Mishmash of Value:
- Is There an Ice Cream Truck in Your Way?
- Feature Creep
- Ginger Chicken at McDonalds
- A Tim Trip to the Vet
- A Party We Never Found
- Case Study: Successful Unconventional Networking
- Live and On TV
- Answer
I. Herbie's Helpful Hint (named after my Dad)
Tim (my 4-legged perfect boy) needed to have surgery. We are fortunate to have a veterinary hospital used by most vets in the area. Yet, the vet I chose conducted surgery in her own office. I used the cardiologist at the vet hospital, and the surgeon in her own office to get the benefit of both the best in technology and the personal care of the same vet from pre-op to post-up.
I think my Dad would have liked my plan. Herbie's helpful hint is that regardless of your profession or challenge, it's about matching the best options to you and your situation . . . it's not simply about the best or most expensive option.
II. Who Said It?
III. Mishmash of Value:
1. Is There a Slow Ice Cream Truck in Your Way?
Lesson Learned:
Is there an ice cream truck in your life? Something: a belief or a person that holds you back? Keeps you moving slower, keeps you from soaring?
2. Feature Creep
A watch used to just be a watch and a phone used to just be a phone. Now most products have more features than function. When do features go from attractive to annoying? When do features obstruct sales rather than promote sales? When does feature creep occur, more features than the client wants or needs?
Lesson Learned:
What can you add that truly adds value to your product, service, or idea? What have you added that confuses your clients?
3. Ginger Chicken at McDonalds
The McDonald's kitchen has been busy creating new entrees like ginger chicken with edamame. Who would have thought? McDonalds, with seemingly unlimited new international markets to open, continues to re-invent its menu to stay current. Delta has hired a renowned chef to improve meals even on mundane domestic flights.
Lesson Learned:
If Mc Donald's has to continue to fulfill new market needs, what are you doing to stay current and fulfill your market's new needs? If Delta is looking for a way to stand out through its food, in what ways can you look to stand out that others in your field have accepted as limited?
4. A Tim Trip to the Vet
To me it was simple: schedule surgery for day I can stay at vet's office, do work on laptop, be there just in case. For all the surgeries my animals have had, I have always tried to be in the building. Even when the original equine Electric Impulse was operated on at OSU veterinary hospital, I was there each of the three times. That to me is normal. This time the receptionist commented how odd to have someone in the waiting room for hours. Odd? How many owners I asked, stayed for surgery. A few hems and haw's later, the answer zero was reluctantly uttered.
Lesson Learned:
To me it is completely normal to be there. Many times prospects and clients ask: how can I stand out in my profession? Look at what you think is normal, and ask yourself if your way of thinking makes you standout? Look at what other people think is normal, and see how you can stand out.
5. A Party We Never Found
Embarrassingly, we never made it to the party. We received the invitation and posted it boldly on the message board. We dutifully followed the directions for dress and bring your own dessert. Poised in our Hawaiian outfits and holding Tiramisu, we headed to the car. Only to find no address on the invitation. No cell phone answered, the search through white pages yielded no address.
Lesson Learned:
Do you think people know more about you than they know? Do they know how to find you let alone how to use you?
IV. Case Study: Successful Unconventional Networking
Situation:
Identified a prospective client at an event. I had talked to him by phone, and wanted to meet him in person. I saw him enter the men's room. I intensely analyzed the situation and deducted that he had to exit the same door he entered.
Process:
I waited outside the men's room. I introduced myself. We slowly began a slow relationship . . . I sent him my newsletter and he appeared to read it. We continued to exchange brief greetings at events. He took me for a "test drive" on a small project.
What Happened:
He then called when he needed my services for an important speaking opportunity. He now trusts me to help him look Extraordinary whenever speaking invitations afford him and his company the opportunity to be more visible in Northeast Ohio.
Lesson Learned:
Marketing is a hands-on, one-on-one process. Clients want a "test drive". Sometimes there is no substitute for face-to-face contact. And a little moxie never hurts.
V. Live and On TV
Civic Forum with Leslie as host on Time/Warner Channel 23 or 15
Upcoming Shows:
Aging Baby Boomers- Week of September 9
Ms. Karen Talbott, Director VNSA
Pattianne Baron, Long Term Care Specialist
Invigorating Education- Week of September 30
Dr. Sylvestor Small, Superintendent Akron Public Schools
Dr. Drumm McNaughton, The Change Leader
Look for:
Preview the Cavaliers with Campy Russell
Fugitive Safe Surrender
With Judge Brenda Unruh
US Marshall Peter Elliott
Summit/Stark/Cuyahoga Counties: M & W 9 pm, Sunday 9am
Channel 23 in former Adelphia areas Channel 15
TV Air DIGITAL tw1111: local on demand
Radio: WONE FM 97.5 Sunday 6 am, WAKR AM 1590 Sunday, 8:30
VI. Answer