Busses or Amusement Parks?

The Kid paid thirty bucks to go to an amusement park with her school group this week.

She paid twenty bucks for the fancy-pants bus to ride in, on the 2-hour trip to and from the amusement park.

Guess which one she blabbed on and on about afterwards?

There’s a lesson in here somewhere.

Grow and be well,

Kelly Erickson

*Today’s title is based on a sign at The Kid’s school that says, “Buses Park Here.” I don’t care that both are acceptable, that spelling drives me crazy. 

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Oh, no! Internet troubles chez MCE!

Dear readers, let’s meet back here next week. Thanks for your patience.

Grow and be well,

Kelly Erickson

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I don’t know, and what’s more…

(I’m not sure if I care.)

Nobody wants to get in on a fad (unless they can be first). So folks tend to hang back, looking to see if they can spot a trend (better), or a more permanent, more widespread sea change (best). Then we know the ground we’re about to walk on is solid.

Quick observation today:

Sometimes not wanting to make a misstep results in taking no steps at all.

Some times… maybe we should worry a little less about all the doggone due diligence.

Grow and be well,

Kelly Erickson

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What every small business owner wants is a big metaphorical hug

… or a real hug, some days…

A friend who owns a small business near my home asked me about support the other day.

As in, she wasn’t getting any from her family, and she wanted to know if I had any tips on getting some.

“Her family” was broadly described as her husband, kids, pets, her brothers, and her mom. Dad, apparently, had no opinion, which was just about the same as being non-supportive. Or just about the same as the pets. I forget.

If you’re just starting out on your business journey, maybe you can relate to her woes. Nobody seems to be rah-rah-ing in your corner. You’re working 852-hour weeks and still managing to clean the toilet. It’s bad enough that sales are slow to none, but then your brother seems determined to tear you down, as if your trying to get ahead is a problem for him, when doggone it, he should see it as amazing for you, and…

Yeah.

The only problem is, this woman’s been in business for seven years. She’s no startup entrepreneur.

What’s this story about?

A couple of things. One is, don’t think there’s some magical day when you emerge from the pupal stage gorgeous and fluttering and all your family will suddenly think your business is awesome and they’ve been so wrong about your abilities and your marvellous ideas and they should make time to massage your feet more often and bring you black raspberry ice cream.

It ain’t gonna happen.

In fact, some will actively hate your success more than they actively hated your striving, so you’d better develop a thick skin. (You’ll need it every day in business anyway.) If you’ve been around a while, you should feel free to shout an “a-men!” in the comment section.

The other is, I’m sure your family is wonderful and I can understand your wanting their approval. I’ve heard myths that some people have even got family support, but those tall tales are hard to verify. Whether you’ve got it or not, the prickly truth is, the approval that counts the most is the approval of your customers. You know, the folks you’re trying every day to create Maximum Customer Experience for.

When those folks vote with their dollars for your incredible skills or amazing products, you’ve got the endorsement that you need most. And if you’re chasing family approval instead of satisfied—no, delighted—customers, you are spending a good portion of your day aiming directly at the wrong target.

I hope your family is behind you 100% with horns and banners and pom-poms. But because I’m obsessed with your success, I’d rather that you turn around and see if your customers are part of the parade.

You know I’m there. 

Am I dead-on about where the most important support is, or dead wrong?

Have you got support? How has it changed over the years you’ve been in business? Shout about it in the comments…

Grow and be well,

Kelly Erickson

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Every once in a while, I just have to go WAY off topic…

In case you’ve been saying to yourself, “I wonder if Kelly’s spam filter at the MCE Blog catches way cooler stuff than mine does,” the answer is yes.

And because is ain’t bragging if someone else toots the horn for you, today I thought I’d share just a bit of the glowing praise that my spam filter prevents you from seeing every day. I’m sure you’ll agree that it’s a shame that more folks don’t share opinions like these gems:

Your article has added great value to your blog. I say this because to me personally I find it valuable. Maybe to some one else it’s not but to me you did good. Thanks for the info.

Thank You, Thank You…I’ve been looking for this information. Everything I found anywhere else wasn’t near as thourough as this site. I’ll be back again…

im trying to set up my xbox live settings for like the 50th time and can never do it allways have to ring xbox and there useless could someone please tell me how to find my dns settings? thanks

(This one perplexed me a bit since all I do tutorials on here is how to find your Intellivision, Atari, and Coleco Telestar settings so you can win at Pong and Asteroids and stuff. Whatever.)

Hey! Fantastic thought, but can this actually do the job?

Hi there! Excellent idea, but might this genuinely do the job?

Ever wonder if great minds actually, genuinely, do think alike? Wonder no more.

Thank you for all the detail!! Still yet another nice site post, definitely the reason why My spouse and I arrive for a blogs over and over again.

Hey! I have been following your blog for 3 days now and i should say i am starting to like your posts.I guess im subscribing now for not missing anything new.

I am always excited to visit this blog in the evenings. It is very entertaining.

They like me, they really like me! Especially in the evenings.

Though I would’ve loved it much more if you added a video or at the least pictures to support the explanation, I still thought that your page quite useful. It is generally difficult to make a complicated matter look very easy. I enjoy your weblog and will register for your feed so I won’t miss out on anything. Awesome articles or blog posts.

On a post full of pictures (which as you may know, is pretty rare for me).

I’ve recently been seeking all over for this info. The good news is I just noticed it at Google.

Robert

I’ve recently been looking all around for this info. Luckily I just came across this on Yahoo.

Robert

I’ve happened to be searching all around for this info. Good thing I just found this on Bing.

Robert

I’ve been searching all about for this info. Happily I seen this on Google.

Robert

Robert: Dude, I’m worried about you. Maybe I should send you some links for a few of the drugs that are sitting in my spam filter…

I have seen people stack them, like the very best restaurant on Gourmet Street. How do you stack them?

On top of my Atari. Is there any other way?

Super-Duper site! I am loving it!! Will come back again – taking you feeds also, Thanks.

Well, folks, if you’ve been seeking all over for such a Super-Duper site, I hope you’ll subscribe like all these charming commenters have. I promise not to go through my spam filter by hand again for a long while, and in the meantime, I think you know what you’ll get here. Advice that’s sure to rev up your business, and tips on how to win at Pong.

Grow and be well,

Kelly Erickson

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Naw.

Thanks, folks, for asking about me in the last week or two. I’ve gone and gotten myself a whopper of a New Year’s illness, and I’d hoped to be just wonderful by now and back to having coherent, killer thinking to help your business grow in 2010.

Instead I’m a bit boneheaded.  ;)

So I’ll go easy on myself for another few days, if you don’t mind.

Killer thinking to help your business grow in 2010 now scheduled to begin next week. Tea and a bit more rest for now.

Regards,

Kelly Erickson

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Or, How To Get Candy From a Meanie (with side-trips to small-town Illinois and Massachusetts, circa caveman days)

This charming fellow won The Kid first prize in the pumpkin-decorating contest at school. Now residing chez nous.

The Kid’s been practicing her schtick for a week. You know the one:

Trick-or-treat! Smell my feet!

“You’re not saying that while I’m walking around with you,” I say calmly, without looking up from my writing.

Fine. Gimme candy…

I raise one eyebrow.

Gimme candy please!

She knows that’s not going to happen.

Funny enough, she also knows that such wildness is totally against her nature. These antics are only for my benefit; she’d never say any such things out in public. Costume or no costume.

For the first few years of trick-or-treating, I was lucky if I could get her to squeak out a bare “Thank you” before she’d run off. Yes, she wanted to go trick-or-treating, but when we went, her voice would desert her. And some meanies won’t even give you a candy if you can’t holler trick-or-treat at them. So now, she practices.

Trick-or-treat, please, I catch her saying to herself a few times a day in the week before Halloween.

She doesn’t say it loudly enough that it’s going to help with the volume, but I think it’s more about reminding her vocal chords to GO on cue.

When I was a kid, we lived in rural nowhere, Illinois. Ironically the state’s built up so much that the area is now a bedroom community for Chicago—

Was that in the caveman days, Mama?

She’s reading over my shoulder now. I hate that.

“No. It was way earlier than caveman days. Aren’t you in bed yet?”

—my old house is gone, and as the song goes it was paved to put up a parking lot. For a mall. We had five “neighbors” to a mile when I lived there. A lot of change. Anyway, the place was quiet and unpopulated, and we simply didn’t go trick-or-treating when I was a kid.

When we moved back to a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts, near where I was born, I was nearly eleven. I tried trick-or-treating once, but I felt too old, too silly, and if The Kid is still peeking over my shoulder, too shy. Just like she seems to be.

I wish you wouldn’t write that I’m shy.

“Too late. Delete key’s busted. Go to bed.”

So I couldn’t stand going.

She *loves* going—but her reserved nature keeps her from being much of a salesman.

Ah, you knew there was a point, didn’t you? Clever reader.

Every year when we go I see dozens of kids along our route. Their schticks range from goofy to greedy to plenty of shy ones like little Kelly was, and like The Kid has always been.

The ones I love to watch—well, they’re the ones you love to watch, too, aren’t they? There are some who are postively pitchmen on Halloween night. Trick-or-treating gives them a chance to be charmers, persuaders, cajolers, actors, comedians, and lovers of the limelight in fifteen-second spurts all over town.

Is there a spooky tie here? Scientific proof of such a fleeting phenomenon is hard to get—after All Hallows’ Eve, they go back to wheedling and wheeling and dealing with their parents in private—

What do you mean by wheeling and dealing?

“Trying to sneak an extra fifteen minutes out of their bedtime. You’d better run, or the bogeyman’s gonna get you even if it is a couple of days early…

“1… 2…

“2 1/2…”

I’m wondering what kind of trick-or-treater you were. If you were a pitchman, has it carried through? Are you the one who gets called to close the difficult sales with the meanies who won’t give your company candy?

I’ve made a massive effort all my life to become a better actor, speaker, and salesman (or salesperson, if you like, but that kind of gets stuck in the mouth, doesn’t it?). I’m still just as frightened inside, but man, I don’t have much time for letting that show on the outside. Life’s short and we need that candy.

I’m curious, this week, musing as The Kid works on her schtick—is knowing who’s a natural as simple as opening the door on Halloween?

2.83759! I made it!

‘Scuse me. I have to go tickle The Kid now.

Grow and be frighteningly well,

Kelly Erickson

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Wherein, Kelly rants like a cranky old broad, which, except for the “old” part, may in fact be true

1. Commenting Is Dead

A friend of mine linked to an old post of his from 2005 the other day. I was floored by the comment section—full of people tossing substantial ideas around, growing their own brains and the pool of knowledge—vs. most comment sections today including his own—yes, wow, thanks, and little else.

I hate to say it, but both “back in the day” and “what’s become of us nowadays” spring to mind. Just being around the blogosphere for a very few years has made me feel nostalgic for the good ol’ days, and shocked at our backwards progress.

2. Linkbacks Are Dead

Remember when “linking out” was like footnotes in your school papers—essential proof that your ideas had a leg to stand on—and was both a growth strategy for the linker and an absolute must come visit and say thank you, for the linkee, helping us all to expand our circles beyond our original blog buddies?

Hello? Anybody?

3. Forums Are Dead.

Related to both 1 and 2. I belong to five or six forum-style “niche networking” sites. With the exception of one, they have all gone pretty well dormant. This, I admit, I haven’t tried to stop. I was never very active in them in the beginning (for shame, Kelly), hoping to catch on to the conversations and gradually increase participation, but instead, they’ve come to slow, aching deaths over the course of a couple of years. Where once I hoped to exchange ideas and refill the mental well, now they are all dried up.

4. (If you don’t write about cats or use foul language or feed fantasies of pitching a humdrum real life for the glam of barely working, but doing it on your own utterly lazy terms in your bathrobe) Blog Growth Is Dead.

Am I being too dire here? I don’t think so. Guides on how to be effortlessly rich, beautiful, controversial, or how to waste time without using brain cells do continue to be popular. So I can’t say blogging is dead, yet. But the medium, once such fertile ground for incredible minds to consider, in bite-sized digests, serious topics you could put together into your own customized Masters’ Degree in anything at all, is in danger of only being able to provide a Masters’ in farting around, in very short order. Some of the sharpest, most useful, most well-written blogs I read are experiencing darned close to zero growth these days. It’s criminal.

Heck, even StumbleUpon and Digg, which were once engines of growth and a way of thanking a blog author for his or her work, are in decline.

What’s the common thread: when they were alive, commenting, linking out, participating in forums, and subscribing to (and reading) blogs, all required effort, graciousness, a desire to be part of a community* of like-minded folks, and the realization that we get out of things what we put into them.

What’s not dead? Twitter.

Please Tweet this.

Grow and be well,

Kelly Erickson

*NB: Faux community is nothing like a real, functioning community. After I’d finished this post, James wrote Screw Community on this very subject at Men With Pens. A rant after my own heart!

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& Why you should be, too

You know the story. Young singer puts out his first couple of albums full of searing poetry and raw need. The public weeps with him, forms a tribe of people who feel the same needs, and turns him into a star.

Young actress burns up the screen by seemingly flaying her soul in front of us. No emotional depth is too distant for her to plumb. We gasp as we watch her. The critics rave.

Artist fresh from the street turns ordinary paint into seeming psychology. She creates at a fevered pace, tearing into our collective unconscious. From an unknown urchin she’s every gallery’s darling. People line up to buy her works and listen to her speak with wisdom-beyond-her-years.

After that, it’s all milquetoast.

It happens in business, too: You know the company—the one with the “it” product, the revolutionary service, the breakthrough that makes you scream “I wish I said/ invented/ thought of that.” The growth curve looks like a rocket-launch, and the aw-shucks whiz kid can’t quite get over his or her luck to have hit on just the right nerve at the right time.

What happens next?

They stare at their navels a while as the money and praise pour in. Plenty of time to decide what’s next! Then they “realize” that there was a formula all along. They get over the lucky feeling, and get into the can’t-go-wrong feeling. They know just how to do it again.

They’re ready to repeat their success, throwing in just a little planning to make it a guarantee, and…

Nothing.

The singer/ actress/ artist/ enterpreneur isn’t hungry anymore. They aren’t coming from need, creating from their own soul. With a billowy cushion of success surrounding them, they aren’t afraid of failure. It can’t really happen anymore. Fans will eat what you feed them, for a long while, without wondering why it tastes old and flat.

There used to be a demon behind them, always on the verge of catching up. Now that demon’s over someone else’s shoulder.

Don’t get me wrong: Planning is great. Creating for your customers’ needs is superb. And most importantly, we don’t all have that meteoric start. In fact, most of us don’t have that kind of start, no matter how badly we want it (yes I’m talking to you), so we have to plan our way of connecting with our audience much more than the company with the accidental “it” product.

We do have something in common with the whiz kids, though. We get comfortable. Uncomfortable that the success isn’t as grand as we’d hoped for, sure, but comfortable with our formula. The driving need to be the very best at what you do, to thrill and delight your customers, has gone away. When that happens, I’ve only got one consolation for you. You won’t have as far to fall as the actress, alone in her hotel room, finishing her third sh*t movie in a row and knowing it.

Complacency is the demon you can’t see.

Thank goodness for the demon at my back. I’m afraid to fail.

You should be, too.

Grow and be well,

Kelly Erickson

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But first, a word from a 10-year-old.

Why y’all got it wrong, by The Kid.*

McDonald’s is the most distinctive company around. I don’t like their food except for breakfast. Many other people don’t like their food either. But people eat there, and it’s almost always a line. You can’t eat cheaper any place. Not even at the grocery store! They’re always in your face with ads. Lots of kids just want the toys, and some kids don’t know good food taste from bad.

I don’t think it’s about liking the food. That’s pretty distinctive for a restaurant, isn’t it?

Lots of people just want fast because they’re tired and hungry now.

I think that’s what it’s about. Tired and hungry now. They’re not a little company, like you like to work with, Mama, but they are the only ones like that. When we’re in the car with people, thinking about eating in a hurry, people always say, “You want McDonald’s? Or there’s a couple of other fast food places on this road….”

Every other fast food place—is just an “other fast food place.” They’re McDonald’s.

Wow. You really thought about that.

I want to win the book!

But we own the book already. And you’re related to me. I’m prejudiced.

Okay, but can I still tell people that McDonald’s is my answer?

Yeah, kiddo. You can tell ‘em.

*From the mouths of babes, part 5. If you’re new to Maximum Customer Experience, (hello!), my daughter occasionally makes an appearance. Click the highlighted links to read her other really wild insights: on management, on customer service, on discounts, and on public speaking.

Why y’all got it right, by Kelly

First off, thanks very much for participating, if you had a chance to come by and promote a business in your area that you find distinctive, and thanks again to Scott McKain for giving me the idea, with his new book, Collapse of Distinction.

I loved all the entries from Tuesday’s book review and contest. Your ideas of what makes a company distinctive make a great set of tips for your own business, including:

• (Provide delight) Everyone who works there seems to want to invite you to the party of discovery. —Janice Cartier
• (Focus) They do not have everything that you can get at the grocery store… but stick to the food experience. —Karen Swim
• (Think locally) I’m sure there are probably stores like that [elsewhere] but it is pretty unique considering how small things are around here. —Brett Legree
• (Details) The dog is probably 50% of the reason I keep coming back. —The Deep Friar
• (Looks count!) The architecture makes it feel like Paris but on a manageable scale. —Alex Fayle
• (Word-of-mouth) Everyone knows about it, and it is the first place anyone will tell you that you *have* to go to when you’re here. —Graham Strong
• (People buy from people, not companies) As a customer I only care about how I am treated and how my needs are taken care of. —Charlene Burke

*sigh* I had to choose just one, and Karen Swim’s description of Randazzo Fresh Market, the local grocer bucking the mass-appeal trends in her area of Michigan, grabbed me. To zig when everyone else is zagging is a brave choice—instant distinctiveness, for better or for worse—and if you’ve looked into the right crystal ball and found a market that was dying to be served, it’s a great way to get your fans raving about you. Like Karen. Hats off for your great description of Randazzo, Karen, I’ll be emailing you shortly!

Dear reader, let’s keep looking for companies and qualities that create Maximum Customer Experience together, and let’s keep making it fun! Thanks, as always, for being a part of our MCE community.

Grow and be well,

Kelly Erickson

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