The Go-Giver's Law of Value

“Your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment.”

Ok, this is a tough one right off the bat. It seems like the latest buzz in sales is to “control your client’s expectations.” If you control expectations, you can almost always over-deliver, right? Whoa. That’s a dangerous idea if it falls into the wrong hands.

If McDonalds lets you expect cold McNuggets, does that make serving rubbery re-heated ones OK?


For the people who “just get by,” this strategy is like telling them its OK to set the bar low and to deliver average performance. This Go-Giver law is really about giving, giving, giving…for the sheer pleasure of delivering a product or service that you’re passionate about.


When I first started selling Radio, I gave every client- large or small- [ok, they were all really small] white-glove service. I sold an un-rated oldies station that everyone else on the sales team seemingly ignored. But, I went at it with rookie-like enthusiasm. It just made sense to me. Yes, it was a small station. But, every single listener fit into a closely defined affluent, educated Baby-Boomer demographic with gobs of disposable income. I felt like I was helping my clients shoot fish in a barrel, whereas the bigger stations were casting nets in endless seas. I took pride in acting like a marketing director for each and every client—making everything completely turnkey for them.


Hand-written thank you notes- check. Personalized memos, talking points & FAQ’s for guest appearances- done. Multiple commercial drafts to choose from- every time. I did it because I didn’t know any better.

Yes, it took a lot of time and energy. But, over 6 years later, I count over 20 different reps in our office alone who started and subsequently quit every few months. Just showing up to do the job isn’t enough no matter where you are.

Every time you choose to give more than what’s expected, you’re not losing out or spending too much energy. You’re making a deposit in your own goodwill account. And that account has endless potential returns.

The Go-Giver

Whoever decided to write business books in the form of prose is a genius. Maybe it started with the rodents in Who Moved my Cheese?. Or maybe it was “Herbie” in Goldratt’s “The Goal.” (The theory of constraints wrapped up in a story about a fat kid hiking with his Boy Scout troop…now that’s a real page turner.)


Modern business books aren’t being dumbed down. They’re more digestible than ever. We’re in a fast-paced, 140-character, multi-tasking society, and you’d better be able to teach me something and entertain me at the same time. Which brings me to my latest read: The Go-Giver.

The Go-Giver’s 128-page story is about a struggling salesman who learns that the path to success is giving. Throughout the story, he’s mentored by a business Sherpa whose amazing net worth is eclipsed only by his easy-going demeanor. Think Bill Gates meets Frank Sinatra meets Gandhi. The Go-Giver’s gift comes in the form of “Five Laws of Stratospheric Success.” Each and every one of these laws struck a personal chord with me. So, Gentle Reader, stay tuned, and for the next 5 days, I’ll give you a Law of Stratospheric Success and glimpse into my experience with that law.

Fun with Road Signs

"Send a real live singing Cupid to your true love."    

As I left downtown Birmingham and drove through the edgier areas north of the city, this sign caught my eye. Most of it was misspelled, but the message was truly notable in its sheer simplicity and boundless promise. 

The sign was white posterboard; the kind that you'd buy only for really, really important school projects or book reports.  How long could this posterboard really survive the elements? Black marker hashed the offer haphazardly across the page, and it was decidedly clear that it was an old marker. The first few words started strong and dark black, but by the end the letters became almost whispers.  Each line was written with complete care, but ultimately fell short on planning.  The last word on each line was scrunched into a space only half of what was really needed.  
 
Flimsy posterboard, dried up marker, and an offer you could hardly refuse. A real, live, singing Cupid. 

Who is this Cupid? Someone old or young?  A resourceful and entrepreneurial thinker or a practical jokster?  Given the part of town the sign was in, I'd be sure to give Cupid a great tip, lest he draw back his bow.  What would Cupid wear these days?  Adult-sized huggies and a crossbow?  Can I choose what he sings to my true love?

I love the infinite possibilities wrapped up in this real, live singing Cupid.  Don't you?

A favorite oldies song.....
     

On Par: 3 Lessons Learned from the Masters

Birdie. Eagle. Bogey.  Many birds of a feather flocked to the Masters this weekend, and they certainly enjoyed the triumph of Phil Mickelson's 3rd Masters victory.   While some flocked to golf's most elite event hoping for a comeback kid to lead the pack,  I was struck by the progress of a lesser-known competitor, KJ Choi.

KJ Choi is the first Korean golfer to earn a PGA Tour Card, and the first Korean to score a PGA win.  Other than that, or the logo of a favorite company upon his lapel, you probably never noticed him. But KJ has always had a special place in my heart.   When I worked at the sports marketing behemoth IMG, I drafted press materials and marketing headsheets for the golf agents who represented KJ. 

I smiled as he posted a 4th-place finsh at 11 under, tied with Tiger Woods.  Here's the lessons I learned from KJ today:

• Its going to take some time and some practice on the greens.    It was over 7 years ago that I worked for the sports agents who supported KJ's career.  I'd bet no one had heard of him then, and even today, to many, he was merely Tiger's playing partner. Over the long run, a lucky birdie or two does not define a PGA career. Its years of practice, focus, and slow growing momentum to refine your game.  The same goes in life...careers...relationships...friendships. 
• Your bench has more depth than you could ever know.   KJ Choi never knew that there was an unpaid PGA Golf intern who pieced together powerpoint presentations of his career and analyzed his left versus right profile shots for optimum attractiveness.   In the same way, its all too easy to be unaware of the cheerleaders who are rooting for you.  Your bench is stacked with those who are fans of your life.  You see some of your fans each and every day, but never forget that there's special ones, who in their own way, are cheering you on from afar. 
• You can move mountains if you try.  KJ Choi was a teen powerlifter who could squat 350 pounds as a 13-year old.  Who knew?  Maybe what you're pushing for isn't where you'll eventually end up.  But, its the effort that makes you stronger along the way. 

KJ Choi has had 3 top-5 finishes in his last 4 events and has career earnings of over $20.7 million dollars.  Talk about defining the perfect job as "getting paid to do something you love."  I'm still trying to figure out exactly what I love, but in the meantime, I'm always ready to tee off on something new. 

Butter Me Up

For nearly every day of the week, the 6pm hour is completely ordinary.  Its a gateway to the usual tasks of a pedestrian weeknight evening; its a threshold that leads you only to laundry, cleaning, class work or maybe a few of your favorite shows.  (Well, from time to time, we all throw a night out on the town in there.) 

But the 6pm hour on Friday is different.  6pm on Friday is a high-speed on-ramp to over 60 hours of complete freedom. Each and every week, somewhere in this exact time frame, my expectations for the weekend take root.  A few ideas germinate, and by the time 7pm rolls around, activity has already begun to blossom.  
I've got some Tall Orders for this weekend.  As I drove home after work, my first thought was, "Do I have enough butter to get through the weekend?"   Don't let that be cause for concern;  I harbor no secret food fetishes.  Rather, I've got biscotti, cookies and maybe even some fresh pasta on my agenda for the weekend.  I've also got a Tall Order for a long run on Saturday.  And a long nap following my long run.  But first comes a night out on the town Friday night, and the opportunity to sleep in the next morning.

The 60 minutes from 6 to 7pm on Friday are my favorite part of the weekend. They're a Tall Order all their own, where the potential of the weekend itself eclipses the sum of all of the activities I'll undertake.  

Have you got a Tall Order for the weekend?  I'll let you know how mine turn out....

ps- don't use margarine in your baking.  go for the real thing.

Stressed Out? Let's Bake!

Right now there are homemade blueberry muffins in the oven.  A recipe from a Williams Sonoma cookbook that I've just cracked open.  And muffins are just the first item on my list to bake tonight.  I've also got dough for two stromboli rising on the counter;  they'll be stuffed and rolled with Boar's Head Black Forest Ham, Pepperoni, Salami, Provolone, Mozarella ("muutz-a-rella"), and Romano.  And, as I stopped at the market after work, I couldn't help but drop Anise Seeds (for Biscotti), and Almond extract into my cart as well.

People always ask me if I prefer to cook or to bake.  Baking wins every time. Hands down. My love of homemade, baked goods stems from my Mom, Godmother, and Grandmothers.  I'm a cookie snob and can tell the difference between a good "crumb," whether the batter or dough has been over-mixed, and if the leavening worked properly.  I know how to brown a butter pastry to a deep golden tone, and how to pipe royal icing with the best of the at-home bakers.

Baking is unique because its based on a chemical reaction.  You start with a combination of precisely measured ingredients, you impart heat & time, and your reward is a product in an entirely new form.  Baking changes things.  It changes ordinary flour, sugar and butter into sublime shortbread cookies. (And those Shortbread cookies were absolute show-stoppers at my wedding reception. Thanks, Mrs. Joseph!).

Doughs and batters change during the baking process in one of two ways.  Either a leavening agent gives off Carbon Dioxide causing the your baked good to rise.   Or, the cold butter cut into your pie crust or dough gets hot enough in the oven to let off steam. As that steam rises, something strange and magical happens. Your Result: golden, flaky layers that will change your day.

Yes, I like baking because it lets off steam.   Baking melts away my stresses and worries, and leaves me with a sweet treat to share with someone I love. And it leaves me in a better state of mind than the rest of the day has.   I've had a smile on my face all night as I've putz'd around the kitchen.  Tuning up my Kitchen Aid stand mixer; choosing between biscotti recipes to try, and even contemplating getting the Pizzelle iron out this weekend. 

Do you want me to make you some biscotti? I've been mailing biscotti to lots of out of town people lately.  Send me an email with your address and favorite flavor.  The momentary distraction, and baking at 350, couldn't make me happier.

Help for a Hoarder Like Me

The secret rituals of my double life are not what you'd expect.  You might never guess it, but I am a Hoarder. The fixation, the obsessiveness and the compulsion that comes with hoarding starts with breakfast and continues all day long.  But, at least its not junk and clutter that I hoard.   Its recyclables. 

There's something about that rounded triangle on the bottom of a plastic carton that strikes my fancy... is it a #2 plastic?  Or even better... a #5?  After I enjoy my morning Kashi cereal mixed with yogurt, I meticulously rinse the yogurt cup and leave it next to the sink, ready for the recycling bin.  Pop cans go there too.  I even recycle my contact cases when I swap out to a new bottle of solution. There's no such thing as a small step when it comes to saving the environment.  

There's a few things that are problematic about my Green Hoarding Habits.  Primarily, many will argue that the actual act of recycling (the truck, the workers, the recycling plants) probably has a bigger carbon footprint than the benefit of recycling the materials collected.  Who knows?   All that's important to me is that I feel like I'm doing my part to help out; that somehow I am stopping the degradation of the environment, deforestation, and abuse of natural resources.  Oh yes, every time I save a pudding cup and a Diet Dr. Pepper can, the world becomes a better place.  

The other problem with my GHH disorder was set off by the Wine incident.  I used to fill our blue recycling bin to the brim!  Cans, Bottles, Glass, all ready to be reincarnated and repurposed for the better.  Except for the first time I came home to find my empty recycling bin and a bowling-pin-arrangement of empty wine bottles in the driveway.  They could have told me that they don't take glass rather than broadcasting to the Bible Belt that I prefer reds to whites.  A few weeks later they took our recycling bin away.  As it turns out, no one on the street has one anymore. They collect recycling one street away from our house, but not on our street.   This has only exacerbated the hoarding issue.

Now I bag my recyclables, and then wait until the time is right.  When I finally have enough bags in the garage, I start out for my 5:30am run a little early and deposit 1 bag per house in the neighborhood one block over. I used to do this at night, but it embarrassed Paul and he thought someone might call the police.  Who are the gonna call? Captain Planet? 

The only help for a Hoarder like me is a company like SunChips.  They recently introduced packaging that is completely bio-degradable 4-6 weeks after you throw it away.  How cool is that? Yes, it takes away the sheer pleasure of recycling, but I think its a great move on their part in terms of responsibility.  It also is a very strategic complement to their core branding strategy.

Bravo, SunChips!  A small GreeK restaurant in Orlando is the only horse in second place at this point.  Upon closer inspection of the straws that came with our drinks, I found that they were made out of corn by-products!   Pretty cool. Straw Chewers, beware.  As I played with the straw a bit, it was very brittle and easy to shatter.   If you have questions about SunChips, go ahead an call their 1-800 number. Apparently it says that "there's no such thing as a silly question."