Monday Message from Margo: My Son Turns 21 Today: Here’s a 21 “FUN” Salute!
January 25, 2010
Monday Message from Margo 1-25-2010
“And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” ~Abraham Lincoln
Today is my son’s 21st birthday. Ryan is a U.S. Marine serving as an Air Traffic Controller. He’s been in Japan for the 
last two years. He’ll be returning to Texas on February 23rd for a month. I can’t wait.
My son has a great sense of humor, and a keen understanding (usually) of how people with half a brain should behave out in the business world. So in honor of his birthday, here is a 21 “FUN” Salute, with business lessons from the light side of life and kids and stuff like that, and making fun of whatever I can.
So Here Goes:
1. When I was a kid, I used to think there were little plastic army guys inside the radio playing the music. Lesson: PERCEPTION is EVERYTHING, and it often helps to communicate a product, service, or idea as if the audience knew NOTHING about it.
2. When I went to wash my hands in the kitchen today, I noticed that my honey had watered down the dish soap (again). I told him, “stop watering down the soap or I’m gonna blog about you”. He said, “go ahead, and also tell them I’ve been doing it since I was knee-high to a grasshopper”. Lesson: If you do something ridiculous, people will blog about you.
3. I had three kids in four years. When I potty trained my youngest, Sarah, I would reward ALL three kids with a few M&M’s whenever she used the potty.
Understandably, the other two encouraged her BIG TIME. My son even snuck in and pee’d in the potty for her a few times. Sarah was effortlessly trained in short order, with plenty of praise and approval from her brother and sister. Lesson: You’ll reach your goals faster by rallying the team. Everyone will feel important, and team members will connect better with one another.
4. After a year in Japan, my hormonal son was missing the familiar comfort of American girls. I put together a “HOT CHICK KIT” for him by going to the mall near the holidays, and recruited single young ladies who were willing to, 1) have their picture taken, 2) sign a little note card to my son on the spot—which I tied to a mini-chocolate bar and their photo, and 3) Give up their Facebook or Myspace address. The girls were flattered and more than willing to contribute. They wrote wonderful messages thanking my son for his service and asking him to stay in touch. My son was pleasantly annoyed when I sent him the kit. Lesson: Create a product or service where there is a need and desire, no matter how crazy it seems. It will likely be a huge hit.
5. Recently, my honey and I signed up for a taste-test for Schlotzsky’s Deli. They were testing a new whole-grain bread. We got a free lunch for doing so, a date together, plus a $25.00 gift certificate each. Lesson: Save gobs of research money by going right to the horse’s mouth. You’ll solidify loyalty by rewarding your customers for giving you important product and service information.
6. My sister-in-law and I got kicked out of Harrods in London for taking photos of their beautiful displays, AFTER they told us to stop taking photos
of their beautiful displays. Lesson: Don’t get pissy about FREE publicity (and, don’t push your luck).
7. I have asked my husband (not my HONEY this time) for weeks to buy ROASTED SALSA from the grocery store (he does the shopping). Twice already, even after my numerous requests, he bought the regular kind instead. Lesson: Don’t assume your customers will stay if you continue to ignore them (even though I’m staying).
8. One time I delivered a custom home fashions order to a client. I installed all the items and politely requested final payment. The client asked if she could pay me later, as she was expecting company and in a hurry! Lesson: Collect the balance on the day of install or delivery, BEFORE the install (P.S. I did get full payment that day).
9. Another time (before I finally changed my payment policy) I delivered a custom order to a client. I installed the treatments and I asked for final payment. The client, who knew the installation date in advance, said she did not own a checkbook or credit card and she did not have cash (I think that’s amazingly funny)! Lesson: Drop the bottom 20 percent of your clientele.
10. Once when I was five, my aunt cut my sandwich into four triangles because I asked for “corner to corner”. I went ballistic, flailing and crying with intense protest, demanding “I said corner to corner, NOT corner to corner to corner to corner.” Lesson: Don’t ASSUME you know what the customer wants just because you “sort of” know.
11. A friend and I visited a run-of-the-mill, not at all inspiring (why even be in business?) variety store. I saw signs posted and repeated on every wall, informing me that “if you break it, you buy it” (no, if I break it, YOU have to clean it up), that my “kids must stay with an adult at all times” (you had to tell me that through a stupid sign? How about if I make the kid stay with you while I shop, you’re an adult, aren’t you?), and that “a $2.00 charge will be added to all credit card purchases” (isn’t that illegal? If not, it should be). I’ve seen many stores play the sign game. My favorite was on the entrance of a popular hobby store. It read “upon entering this store you agree that we have the right to check your purse”. I am not kidding! I went into the store just HOPING someone tried to look in my purse! (By the way, just because you post a sign that reads, “upon entering this store, you agree to give us your car” doesn’t make it so.) Lesson: Don’t talk to your customers through negative signage. It makes you look really foolish and it turns people off. Totally ditch the “you’re a bad girl and we don’t trust you, and we really don’t even like you all that much” types of signs and attitudes.
12. Not long ago, at an otherwise upscale establishment, I saw another sign 
that read, “$30 fee on all returned checks”. Lesson: Drop the ridiculous HOT CHECK FEE (because then you have to have a stupid sign). If you must have it, make it just a few bucks, not 30. Someone who writes a hot check on purpose won’t be stopped because of a fee threat, and they probably won’t be coming back anyway, and a valued customer who writes one accidentally should be shown mercy so they WILL come back. NEVER shame your customers, and NEVER post their check on a wall for all to see (I can’t believe people do this).
13. I recently saw a T.V. commercial for Proactive where Avril Lavigne said, “I literally tried EVERYTHING”. The poor girl must be completely exhausted. Lesson: Don’t publicize that you are an idiot (yes, grammatical mistakes happen all the time, but this choice of wording was scripted, planned, reviewed by a slew of people, and continues to air). HINT: look up the word literally.
14. I tried to return a ham (by the way, that’s the title of my next book). We’d just bought it, and when I opened it I saw the expiration date had long expired. My honey had thrown away the receipt. “So what” I said, “I’m taking it back, they should never have sold this”. At the store, I politely explained that I didn’t have a receipt, that we shop there every week, and that the ham was long expired the day we bought it. The clerk made a phone call sharing all the details (including that I had no receipt). The person on the other end O.K.’d the return with no problem. The clerk then snobbishly handed me a gift card for the amount of the ham, and proceeded to tell me, “The next time you return something like this, don’t throw away your receipt”. Well, no sh_ _ Sherlock (I kept that to myself), that’s why I told you from the beginning that I didn’t have a receipt. But, she just HAD to have power over SOMEBODY! Lesson: Don’t SCOLD or LECTURE your customers (especially not me. Don’t worry, I was nice)!
15. I love Triscuit crackers, but rarely buy them and wasn’t sure why. Then Nabisco came out with Triscuit Thin Crisps, a thinner triangle version of the original, with the same taste. Now we buy them to eat with everything from eggs to chicken salad. They’re like my new bread. I now realize the original crackers were tasty, but just too thick and filling. Lesson: Don’t throw the cracker out with the kitchen-sink water—don’t totally replace an idea. Simply TWEAK a product or service just a bit, and you could have tremendous success. See, I am now eating more Triscuits AND sharing the product with you, and THAT’s how it works!
16. When I was about 7, I bet my older brother $5.00 that he couldn’t ride down the stairs on his bicycle. He took the bait. He landed at the bottom with a bang, a bent up bike, and his handlebars shot into the wall. My parents came running only to scream and holler at him (that’s what they did in the old days). He later asked me for the money. I said, “No, ‘cause you didn’t do it right”. Lesson: Get it in writing.
17. I served on a national Board of Directors for several years (I’ve served on several boards so don’t try to figure it out), volunteering a lot of time and traveling long distances to many meetings and think sessions. The leadership did not value or capitalize on the diversity of exceptional thinkers they had at their disposal. They embraced only ideas that were in line with their repertoire’ of knowledge and their current way of doing things. They quickly denounced ideas that involved knowledge that was new to them (I think because it made them uncomfortable, and allowed someone else to have authority or influence in the meetings). They also quickly stopped any type of back-and-forth passionate discussions among the 12 board members (but they would throw a hissy-fit if you disagreed with THEM). They didn’t facilitate the negotiations and friendly hashing out of a group of innovative thinkers who were willing to synthesize concepts and ideas, and bring innovation to an entire industry. That organization is still in just about the same place they were two, five, and even ten years ago. Lesson: Diversity of thinking, controlled tension from different ideas, and strategic conflict are where growth, change, innovation, and incredible ideas and products come from.
18. Today my honey, who is quite generous and always kind (but who LOVES to save money), turned away two adorable girl scouts selling cookies from a wagon. When he told me, I gave him a four second mini-lecture on the importance of their efforts, and then I ran down the road after them. They returned, and Joe and I, standing side-by-side, proudly bought a box of Caramel DeLites (he paid, and later he actually thanked me). As they left, one little girl said to me “isn’t your husband the man who rides his bike around”? Lesson: Don’t be too quick to blow an opportunity to invest into the lives of others, besides, someone might recognize you and always remember your kindness.
19. I once worked on a joint venture with a particular feisty, NO-BULL East Coast woman (no, not me). When someone harshly voiced a problem or issue through email, she was swift to shoot off a reply blasting them right back. I quickly took over the emails so as not to tick people off. I was able to turn every one of the critics full-heartedly towards our efforts through first respectfully acknowledging their concerns, and then offering greater understanding or solutions that worked for them. Lesson: Take a deep breath, then take the high road when responding to email messages containing sharp or tactless complaints. Don’t put it out there if you don’t want it to come back at ya’. Kind replies to ill-communicated concerns can win the virtual hearts (and real cash) of customers for years to come.
20. Type into Google (O.K., O.K., Bing, too) any term that relates to “bad customer service”, “rude store”, or “great places to shop”, and see what the universe brings. Lesson: Today, the little guy has power, and the supposedly insignificant people of the world are talking and blogging, and maybe about YOU! Behind the screen, everyone’s voice has just about equal authority and volume. If the nerdy nobody from OklaNowhere shares her experience online, she can direct droves of customers towards or away from you. Lesson: Be amazing and always give your very best. Help make the conversation one you can be proud of.
21. Today is my son’s 21st birthday. It has gone by so very fast. I remember 
him when he was just one day old (pictured), and I called him “mommy’s salami” because he was all wrapped up in a meaty little bundle. I have enjoyed every moment and every year that he was my son, and I look forward to many more. Lesson: Put your time, your efforts, your priorities, and your business concerns into perspective. Celebrate your life, your kids, your loved ones, and enjoy every minute of it.
Happy Birthday Ryan!
Have a Wildly Fun Week,
Margo
Filed under: Business Bites, Change and Transition, Education, Fun, Goal Setting, Ideas and Innovation, Marketing, Monday Message from Margo, Money, Personal Development, Power and Influence, Sales
love and he invented marriage.
