musings Archives

Smokin' Hot

Friday, December 15th, 2006 at 7:47 pm  
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As I waited to see the doctor I referenced in a previous post, I skimmed through the complimentary copy of Bicycling Magazine (which I have a personal subscription to) which was sitting in the lobby area. I had time to kill so I figured I’d browse through it to make the time go by a little quicker.

About halfway through the magazine there is an ad with a smokin’ hot blond depicted wearing Shimano clothing. Quick 4-1-1 for the uninitiated: Shimano is a popular component maker for bicycles, fishing equipment, etc. which is obviously trying to expand their presence into apparel and gear. Upon further reflection, I realized I hadn’t even noticed the brand until well after scrutinizing “Miss Thing.” It’s not like I have any “shot” with this girl, and I’m perfectly content with the girl I’m presently dating. It’s a total guy thing though—it’s who we are and how we’re wired. Our human nature, if you will.

Stop and think for a moment: what is Shimano really selling in this ad with the gorgeous blond? Clothing, right? Hell no—they are selling HER! They are selling the ideology that somehow buying their product gives you a shot with the model or someone much like her. It’s that subliminal message connecting some strangely placed dots within the male ego that has worked for years and will continue to do so because that’s how we’re wired. It may work on women, too, but I’m not as sure about that. Any women care to chime in to lend some “expertise?”

A majority of cyclists are men so this is likely an effective ad because guys will undoubtedly talk about the girl which will invite other guys to check out the ad. Shimano is a secondary component to the girl, but they know that. She definitely grabbed my attention so the ad worked (on me at least). All heterosexual guys will almost always notice gorgeous women (and make comments to their buddies) because we’re extremely visual. It doesn’t matter if they are single or married either—it’s the very basics of advertising to men, and it won’t go out of style. We warm blooded guys won’t let it. I’m not so sure “taken” (married or seriously involved) women would have the same reaction would they?

Is it Worth Waiting for High Priced Expertise?

Thursday, December 14th, 2006 at 4:06 pm  
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On Wednesday, I was waiting to meet with a potential client who happens to be a doctor. Doctors are notorious for making us wait no matter what time we show up for our appointment. If we’re early, the wait is longer. If we’re late, we get shoved to the back of the rotation until they can “fit” us in even if THEY are behind schedule. I fully understood that I was at the back of the rotation as long as paying customers were walking through the door, and that was the price of engagement on this particular appointment.

So as I waited, I got to paying attention to how quickly the patients were “turned over.” When I arrived, there were three guys waiting to be seen, and that number quickly grew to six in about fifteen minute’s time. I began to think I might be there all day when magically the doctor pops his head out and says “come on back.” The patients were all gone (for the moment). As we were walking back to the office, another patient walked through the door. Hopefully he didn’t have to wait because of me, but the doctor actually moved people through rather quickly and seemed to genuinely care about his patients. That’s a wild concept isn’t it? A doctor that seems to legitimately care and one that is focused on getting someone in and out—try that on the next time you visit your busy doctor.

It got me to thinking, what allows us to accept waiting to see someone that we’re going to have to pay a lot of money for that doesn’t seem to care one way or another if we heal as long as we can pay the bill? It’s common knowledge that doctors have to endure a lot of education and have extremely high overhead costs because of insurance and specialized help, but would we wait very long for another “expert” in another field to help us that seemed disinterested in us? Do lawyers do this? Actually, they probably do, and I guess that’s the nature of the beast, but that doesn’t mean it’s right.

When an expert specialist figures out how to balance caring about the client, effective time management techniques to minimize the client’s waiting time, and easy ways to pay the bill without having to fill out a life history on each visit, he/she will own their local niche market. There just aren’t many of them out there today willing to meet us halfway like that.

That will be the nugget to think about for the day—meet your clients, customers, or patients halfway if you want to make them happy. They may spread the word without you having to ask.

Does Free Really Mean Free Anymore?

Wednesday, December 13th, 2006 at 6:24 pm  
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I began thinking about our free one-month offer of services last night and wondered internally “how is our free offer different from everyone else’s?”

For starters, our free month is 95% free (you have to invest human time resources and share relevant contact information to make it successful). If a potential client calls us up to begin working on a project and gives us an opportunity to demonstrate our abilities, they do so without signing any papers, and they are free to walk away at the end of the month without owing us a dime. Obviously, we’re not in this to give away our expertise, and we believe that once we’ve proven ourselves a client will want to continue the relationship on a compensatory basis. That’s the theory behind it. Most people stumble across us and have no idea who we are or how we operate so it’s in both of our best interests to test one another before making it a commitment. We may decide at the end of the month that the client may be better served working with another firm. We’re not for everyone and vice versa so it’s truly a two way street.

Contrast that with today’s marketing version of “free.” 95% of the time you are asked to purchase something in order to get the free item or service. Gas stations require you to pay for filling your tank before giving you the “free” car wash. There are offers all over the Internet where you buy one product and get a “bonus” or a “free gift” for doing so by a certain date and time. In concept, it’s a reward for doing business. Simple enough. We love receiving rewards don’t we? It’s not really a free offer though. You’re requiring the customer to pay first which means you’re simply diluting the price by adding another item. If the item’s cost requires/permits diluting, what does that say about your pricing of that item? Oh, you’re “adding value,” you say? Whatever.

Free just doesn’t mean what it is used to imply a good majority of the time. It’s an old trick to fool people into spending money. Fooling people is never a good way to start things off, but it must work because people fall for it all the time.

If you stumble across a truly free offer, share it with us. We’ll help spread the word.

Thanksgiving Musings

Friday, November 24th, 2006 at 2:15 am  
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First off, I hope everyone is having a great Thanksgiving and a safe one. Our family got together for a fantastic meal at my brother’s house in which his wife (Donna) cooked up a mean bird and her world famous green-beans. I used to hate green-beans, but she got me back to liking them to the point I can make a pretty tasty pot myself (her recipe tweaked of course).

Since this day is about giving thanks, I thought I’d take the time to give thanks for the following:
1) My parents are still alive and kicking. Mom is in a nursing home, but she’s at least adjusted and seems content/at peace. I hate seeing her there, but they can give her the care she requires at this juncture. Alzheimer’s is a terrible disease that I hope they find a cure for as it’s affected my mom’s side of the family pretty heavily which scares me to no end—I have seen what the disease can do, and I don’t want to go through that. That’s a selfish view, but I can’t help but wonder if I’m headed there eventually. Luckily, my dad’s side of the family doesn’t seem to be afflicted with Alzheimer’s so there’s hope. Anyway, I’m very thankful my parents are still with us regardless of capacity. If your parents are still around, please appreciate the time you have with them.

2) I have my health for the most part. My knees now cause issues, but I’m in pretty good condition other than that. Every since I kicked the diet drink habit (February 8, 2006), I’ve felt much better overall, and my cholesterol, blood pressure, resting heart rate, and energy levels have returned to normal. That aspartame is a demon—stay off that stuff if you can.

3) I met a great girl this past year (Jennifer), and we’ve been going strong since March. While I’m sure I frustrate her with my tunnel vision focus on work sometimes, I’m really glad to have her in my life. I’ve been fortunate in the dating department and probably take some of it for granted when I get zoomed in on another aspect of life, but that’s just who I am.

4) I got my own business started in earnest this past year—something I have always desired to do for as long as I can remember. It’s beginning to produce fruit so I feel good about the future of this firm. It takes a lot of work to start a business (a topic for a future article?), and I honestly had no idea what I was doing when I started down this path last year. I halfway started this thing then, but I threw myself totally into it in the summer of 2006. I’m thankful to have the opportunity to work with some great people and expand my own knowledge along the way.

5) Last but not least, I’m thankful for my family and friends. I’ve got some high quality people in my life, and I’m glad to have them share in the trials and tribulations of my life and vice versa. Every successful person has a solid support group so I’m fortunate to have that. Repeated success is sure to follow with the group I have in my corner.

Now onto a recap of my Thanksgiving if you’re interested.

Day in General
My day got started by doing something I truly enjoy—bicycling with our Louisville Race Team. We (13 of us at the start; 9 at the end after a few peeled off early to head back home) set out to do 40 miles from one of the local parks at a decent pace but nothing too brisk. I somewhat determined the route we’d follow with input from a few other guys. Much to my chagrin, I guided the team past a key turn about 25 miles in, and we ended up with 70+ miles instead of the planned 40. Oops! Sorry about that guys. I hope nobody got thrown into the doghouse for being late, but I’m guessing a couple of guys did. I feel bad about that because I don’t like misguiding a group of friends/teammates, and I really didn’t want the extra 30 miles because I’ve been battling knee pain for a while now, and that didn’t help matters. Around mile 50 or so, my legs started locking up in the knee area (of course) so the last portion of the ride was rather painful. Thankfully we weren’t drilling it out today, or I’d have been complete toast! Not sure if I can ride tomorrow, but the ride today really helped create quite a bit of hunger so there was some serious damage done to the food spread. This is the first Thanksgiving I can remember in a long while I haven’t been hung-over from totally blowing it out the night before so I’m happy about that. I drank nary an ounce last night so I felt pretty good all day aside from the end of the ride. Perhaps I’ve finally matured?

Work
I’ve actually done some work today—can you believe that? Maybe I’m obsessed, as some have suggested, but I truly find it easier to “catch up” during holidays because people aren’t looking to do something or go somewhere.

I am working on another SEO article and also researching different copywriting techniques to guide people through a website and ultimately get them to sign up for something or at least have enough interest to contact me. I’m disappointed in my website’s traffic so I’ve decided to do something about it. Getting it to rank well is one thing, but “converting” visitors is another. The site gets consistent new visitors each week, but they obviously aren’t intrigued enough to go to the contact page and fill out the form or sign up for the newsletter. If you have some constructive criticism you’d like to share on what you’d do to better “convert” visitors, I’m very open to that. The site can be found at http://smbconsultinginc.com/. Check it out and shoot me an e-mail (go to the contact page on site and reference this post otherwise I’ll think you’re just some wise ass. Ha, ha.)

Sports
While I sit here watching the Boston College/Miami college football game, I’m reminded of how far the Hurricanes have fallen yet I don’t believe Larry Coker should be fired. The guy has a 58-15 record (.795 winning pct.) coming into this game. That’s phenomenal! I think he should be given another year at least. You can’t throw someone with that kind of record under the bus so quickly and easily even though the fans are screaming to chop the guy’s head off.

Tomorrow the Cards play in Cincinnati against Dayton in basketball, and Saturday the football team is at Pittsburgh. Both are worrisome games because the basketball team can’t stop dribble penetration worth a damn, and the football team’s defense struggles against the pass. Tyler Palko (Pitt) is a solid quarterback that could pick apart the secondary if we don’t get consistent pressure on him. I believe we will put some pressure on him, but that doesn’t mean a win is guaranteed because of that alone. Our offense has struggled of late, and this game has been a source of stress all season even when we were undefeated and rolling.

As for the basketball team, there is a good group of young talent, but Rick Pitino doesn’t like to play freshmen as much as he’s going to have to play them this season. That troubles me because this freshman class is a very talented one, but they have to learn on the job. Last year was a complete circling of the bowl in hoops, and I frankly won’t go through another one of those this year. If this team shows signs of sucking, I’ll have to find something else to do with my time. My blood pressure simply can’t handle a repeat of last season.

There you have what’s on my mind today. Not a lot of business for a change, but I figure a change of pace every now and again doesn’t hurt anything. Right?

What are you pondering this Thanksgiving Day? What are you thankful for? As always, f
eel free to e-mail me or comment below, and thanks for reading.

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