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What can you say?
Coming from a broadcasting background I understand the need to have something to say when the country goes through a tragedy. Couple that understanding with the media companies that we carry around in our pockets and it becomes impossible to resist the urge to say something when everything within you says what you have to say matters.
But maybe that is the moment to think not act. To read and not write. To process and not produce because while we all scramble for the pieces of information that will make sense of a senseless act of violence it tends to become just noise:
The talking heads
The 24hr news cycle
The fight for clicks
The click-bait journalism
The fake news
What if you took a moment to wait. What if you thought "do I have anything useful to contribute to this conversation?" And if the answer is "no," you take a breather. I am not a proponent of non-action unless that is the perfect action and yesterday it seemed like there were enough opinions on the subject that adding to the yelling did not seem useful.
In fact, the one thing I did post on some of the false news that was circulating was called stupid within 10 seconds of posting it so I took it down because we just didn't need another pundit in the boat.
We can save that for another day.
-Eric
For the Creator
To the person who took a chance and:
- wrote that first word
- crafted that first line of code
- hit record
- played that first chord
- made the first brush stroke
- called that first client
- hit publish
- took a chance
- failed that first time
- did it again
- accepted criticism
- committed to the process
- Lept
- pressed a t-shirt into existence
- competed
- won
- lost
- tried
- loved
- learned something new
- lost
- created a recipe
- finished something that was hard
- was scared to share with the world - but did it anyway
- understood the doubters would show but you showed up first
You are different, you are a creator when the rest of the world is a consumer. They eat what you build every day. They are the first to tell you that you can't and then the first to be in line to say they always thought it would work. You scare them because you are a reflection of what happens when you mobilize fear into action and look at your one life as an adventure instead of a burden. They call days like today #motivationmondays but creators see every day as a chance to make something new, iterate on an idea that is just so close, or start all over.
To you, the creator I say go have an adventure. Go have an amazing Monday.
-Eric
Customer Service Might Be All That Matters.
Now Playing
Diana Ross: There’s A Small Hotel
As I write this I am in a vineyard in Traverse City, my wife and I along with a couple we love to travel with are sharing a bottle of wine and taking in the sunshine.
5 minutes before this serene moment, we nearly left the winery.
When we arrived at the winery there were two employees behind bar one of which growled at us when we walked in, the other — she rolled her eyes. Now normally I would have simply left, there are a lot of wineries I could spend my time and money at — this one however, is my favorite (although clearly not for the customer service).
We ignored the lack of service and slid the bottle across the bar took our glasses and walked outside to enjoy the moment. But I cannot help wondering, why do you have this job?
If the mid-afternoon drunk crowd who likely buys more than the sober morning crowd is enough to ruin your day, pick another line of work. The world is so full of choices for the customer and the employee you need not waste time in a place where you don’t fit or maybe don’t care to.
I certainly understand that tourists can be a bit much, but an hour later I am at another winery where a full time realtor has taken a part-time job at the winery so she can be around people with “such great energy,” this woman was spectacular, moving through customers, getting their tastings, explaining the wine, all with a HUGE smile on her face the entire time. This particular winery is good, but not my favorite. However, yesterday I bought more wine there than I did at all the other spots we visited because she made the trip.
I think about customer service a lot because it is the easiest thing to fix in the same way it is the easiest thing to overlook. The paradox of the modern customer experience.
- You want to hire cheap but it costs you in the end.
- You don’t have the time to train because you spend your time wondering why your bottom line comes in but doesn’t buy anything.
- Only a high school student would want this job, so it doesn’t matter who I hire.
- I am the only game in town so it doesn’t matter.
- My wine is the best around so customer service isn’t important.
With the market in constant flux and your customer constantly on the go they make it hard to get to know them, but not impossible.
While I won’t name the vineyard here, I will tell the story of the terrible customer service more than I will tell the mythology I experienced at 45 North. When I worked at The Limited we used to have a sign on the door that said if a customer has a great experience they will tell 5 friends, if that same customer has a bad experience they will tell 65 — this was before the connection economy, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, now they tell the planet.
So when I meet a person who takes a customer facing job for fun because she loves people, or the coffee barista at Pour in Cleveland who remembers my name when there are 60 or more days between visits, or even the boss remembers your children’s birthdays without the use of Facebook, I wonder what the marketing world would look like if people got up every day with the express purpose of making others happy. The “why” of putting others first or the art of creating a life much bigger than yourself.
Sure, that might seem pollyanna but snark, sarcasm, and indifference are the easiest emotional gears to operate — I am interested in the people doing the hard stuff, actually caring about the people who depend on them in whatever sense of the word that means.
Go get to know your customers before they get to know your competition.
I deleted every draft.
I have been writing since yesterday my thoughts on Trump, Curry, the Warriors, and the NFL — and deleted every draft.
Not because I fear for what someone my think but because we have lost the ability as a nation to discuss anything with nuance.
Not because it isn’t important, free speech is the cornerstone of some of the biggest issues our country faces.
Not because I don’t have an opinion, I most certainly do.
However in 2017 if you aren’t on my side or I am not on your side we are to hate literally every thing that comes out of each other’s mouth or even keys to the Internet.
As I write this there are whole NFL teams staying in their locker rooms for the National Anthem. As I write this there are just as many people cheering this decision and as are jeering it.
But very few people are asking how we got here.
It is not just that media has been weaponized because that idea is hardly new, the even older idea is keep a country divided— because angry is the easiest emotion to manifest and the easiest to manipulate.
I probably should have deleted this too