Do you like the idea of supporting local businesses?

Is that like asking a politician if he’s for more jobs and against crime?

But … and it’s an awfully big but … your locally-owned business has got to meet me MORE than halfway. Sorry if that seems unfair. Heck, it is unfair.

Get over it.

One local restaurant urges folks to get on board to help them beat the chains. “Chains are bad. We are good.” That sorta thing.

To wit:

• Twice before the holidays, I called for delivery and was greeted with ‘hello?’
• Both times, it sounded kind of like I was bothering them by trying to offer them money.
• I asked if I was, indeed, calling the restaurant. Both times, I was greeted with a self-righteous, “yeah.”
• The second time, I was abruptly cut off twice when asking simple questions.
• Neither time did the phone person say ‘thank you’ or ‘good bye.’ Each time, they simply hung up.

Help you beat the chains? Help yourself.

<insert Superfriends transition sounder> Meanwhile …

One of those nasty chains – Target – answered the phone over the holidays at not one, but two different stores in two different towns by nicely saying,

“Hello, this is Target. What can I help you find today?”

That’s right. A real, live, human being person answered. No automated phone tree. Also no hangups or entitled, snippy, self-righteousness.

Target obviously had a system in place. How exactly was that evil? That’s like calling kittens evil.

Your locally-owned business has got to meet me more than halfway.

Or you’ll lose.

It’s not a temporary inconvenience. It’s the new reality of your business, and you best embrace it and – more importantly – develop chain-like, repeatable systems to do it better.

Remember, in this age and day, whether you deliver an exceptionally good or bad experience, social media will only accelerate the inevitable.

And spare me your righteous indignation.

There’s too often a chip on the local shoulder that teeters into defeatist whining. If certain local merchants mustered all that whine-energy and channeled it instead toward improving the customer experience, they’d have much less about which to whine.

I want to celebrate our independents. I really do. I’m sure you feel the same way to one degree or another. Help me, please.

‘Thank you.’

Read About Tim Miles

Morning. Happy weekend.

Saw these and thought about them for longer than usual. Then thought of you. Now I'm doing something about it. (Something as simple as typing a few words and hitting "send.")

Some of these will seem so obvious, some you may be doing already ... yet ... the difference between getting by and being stinkin' brilliant is simply and actually *doing something differently* and not just reading and thinking and waiting.

Read the 16 things you can do to help trigger word of mouth for your small business.

Happy Weekend. Feel free to share with someone you think could use a little low budget help. Remember:

"Time and money are two sides of the same coin." ~Roy H. Williams

When you have less of one, you always have more of the other. Leverage the surplus.

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I got introduced to Chris Brogan's blog by my partner and noted freaking genius on marketing to women, Michele Miller.

He's one of those few guys I almost don't want to share with people. His stuff's that good, but I'm sharing today's post with you because it's reinforcing principles Roy Williams taught us all five years ago about how communication patterns are swinging back toward different alignments.

Humility. Grace. Simplicity. Stripping yourself bare. Can you muster these values? Yes. You must muster.

I witnessed Brogan's Last Bullet (tell me that's not a movie title!) in action this morning:

Be there before the sale. The best way to drive stronger marketing experiences and convert people into customers is to be there long before you need something from people. Sure, it takes longer, but I’ve seen lots of situations where this is what brought in the big sale over another person. If your prospect feels like she knows you, it works really well.

The coffeehouse that serves as my de facto second office got hit up by two media advertising sales people who'd never, ever entered the front doors before this morning. I knew it. The owner knew it. All the regulars knew what industry they (caution: term used loosely) "served." They didn't get six words of their pitch out (I didn't catch all of them, but one of them was most certainly 'solutions.') before the owner went into her (sadly) all-too-rehearsed dismissal.

Read all of them. It won't take but a minute. You'll probably agree it's all pretty much common sense. You'll also probably agree (sadly) that too few folks pay heed.

Allow fine folks to know you and see you real. Help them. It helps you even when it doesn't help you.

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It's amazing how often you need some sort of stock photography featuring a human being. Why not create your own?

My client just finished up a simple, 2-hour shoot featuring our employees wearing their logo'd gear against white backgrounds and often holding various "placeholder" signs on which we can later write copy in post production. They're the same kind of photos you see on the various stock sites, but they're our employees wearing our logo.

A two-hour shoot with a local photographer yielded several hundred photographs for less than $400, and we have unlimited rights to use them.

And use them we will - on the web, in direct mail pieces, in brochures, in emails. Who knows? Maybe even lifesize cutouts for Christmas presents or to ward off evil sprits?

The possibilities are endless.

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One of my new clients emailed me this story. I'm not sure of its author, but it appears - like so many good storytellers - that he or she comes from Texas.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SUCCESS AND FAILURE

Cartridge World is a hot new franchise.  It's got a great business format and the timing couldn't be better.  Cartridge World refills laser printer toner cartridges for half the cost of buying new ones.

We learned about the company from an article in a local, Lewisville, Texas paper.  The closest Cartridge World was located in Denton, about 15 miles away.  I'll drive 15 miles to save a couple of hundred bucks.

On my first visit, I was impressed by a large business card carousel on the counter of the storefront.  I asked an employee about it.  She said that the owner built it and talked about it at the Chamber of Commerce. Since then, it seems that everyone from the Chamber has dropped by to drop off business cards.  I bet all of them get their cartridges refilled at the store as well.

Unfortunately, the store didn't have any Okidata cartridges in stock to swap, but they could refill the ones I had if I could leave them for a couple of hours.  And they did.

I've been to the store several times.  More than once, the owner was interviewing people.  Apparently, he's growing.  I'm not surprised. Cartridge World has a winning format, but the Denton store has more than the format going for it.  It's run by a creative, hard working entrepreneur who doesn't wait for business to develop.  He goes out and gets it.

I could see how he built awareness through public relations and the Chamber of Commerce.  I'm sure that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Friday, I had more cartridges that needed refilling.  I pulled up Google maps to find the phone number of the store to see how late it was open and saw that Cartridge World now has a store three miles from my house. Well, three miles is better than 15, so I called.

I couldn't understand a thing the guy who answered the phone said, but guess that I had the right number and asked how late the store was open. Six o'clock.

At 5:50 p.m., I pulled into the store.  There were no other customers. The owner walked out (I know he was the owner because his nametag said so), took a look at the four cartridges, and said, "We don't have Okidata."

"That's okay," I replied.  "You can just fill them and I'll pick them up on Monday."

"We don't fill Okidata."

"Uh, I don't mean to argue with you, but I've gotten these filled two or three times at another Cartridge World."  The cartridges were in Cartridge World's distinctive yellow and blue boxes after all.

"Where'd you get 'em filled?"

"Denton."

"I'd advise you to take them there."

Are you kidding me, I wanted to shout.  Are you a moron?  An idiot? Determined to go out of business as fast as possible?

Apparently so.  I didn't argue.  I just shook my head and left.

These two businesses are franchised.  They're identical on the surface. Below the surface they're as different as the two owners.  One is aggressive, hard working, creative, and focused on building a business. The other is not.  When he bought the franchise, he merely bought himself a job.

The Cartridge World format is good enough that the guy near my house may survive in spite of himself.  Don't be surprised if he fails.  And if he does fails, he'll probably blame the franchisor, not the guy in the mirror.

The difference between success and failure isn't the business.  It's the business owner.

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Service businesses: today, tomorrow, or Monday, go to a battery store or Sam's or Costco and buy a bunch of 9V batteries.

On your service calls in the coming days, offer to change the smoke detector batteries for your customers - particularly seniors.

Do good deeds - humbly and without fanfare. It'll be the cheapest advertising you can buy this week as we spring forward into daylight savings time.

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Somewhere, somewhen, someone will find an envelope such as this in the mailbox, and it will actually contain a real check, or a legitimate important document ... and not some junk from a car dealer or a furniture store.

I pity that person, though, because there's an awfully good chance that such a person - being of sound mind- would throw that legitimate important document away before ever opening it.

People who whore these things out make us the villagers in the land of the boy who cried wolf.

It must be an awfully powerful pitch to the dealers:

See, what we do is we partner with the credit bureau and get a list of all folks who don't have the best credit.  Oftentimes, they're lonely people, too, and just want someone to make them feel important.  They're such easy prey that they'll open this because they'll be deceived, err, persuaded that someone's singled them out for a better life.  It's the American Dream!  And you can make it happen for them!

So the business owner merely has to write a check to the direct mail boys for the big bottle of snake-oil, and the direct mail boys take care of the rest.

To dealers:  Stop it.  Even if your conversion rate on these things is cost-effective, find a way to connect truly and deeply with your consumers based on who you are and what you believe.  Say it with all the conviction you can muster.  Become the place the 99.99999999 percent of the village who won't be sucked in by crap like this think of first and like the best when it comes time for them to need their next car or sofa.  You'll sleep better ... perhaps for the first time in a long while.

To the direct mail boys:  Stop it.  Is it any wonder with you rooting around in our credit reports and creating deceptive false senses of urgency that no mother ever looks at the baby in her arms and says, "I hope he grows up to be in advertising."

Please understand that I think direct mail can be a powerful means of communication - shockingly expensive - but powerful.  I once received a xerox copy of a hand-written, very personal letter from the owner of a local heating and cooling place.  It said they hadn't had a very good year money-wise but he felt good about the work they'd done and thought I would to if I'd just give them the chance.  It wasn't perfectly written, but it was honestly written.  When the time comes for us to have work done, I've already created my preference.

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My sister sent me this. Words fail. Happy Easter those who celebrate.

From The Mission Bay Community Church in San Francisco ...

Let Jesus into your Wii

This Easter Sunday, we will provide anyone who attends church with a Jesus Mii for their Nintendo Wii console. Just bring your Wii Remote or Wii and we'll transfer a Jesus Mii to your system.

Then you, too, can box with Jesus, golf with Him, or even bowl with Him! A night bowling with Jesus? What could be better? Especially if you get that turkey and best Him by 100 points! Don't worry;—He'll forgive you.

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Guilty. My three-year-old inherited it from me. Since I was a small child, I've had dangerously toxic levels of resistance clogging my arteries.

If you or someone you know relies on getting things done to make a living, I strongly suggest you forward these seven tips to overcoming resistance and actually getting stuff done:

1. Become aware: once you become aware of resistance, you can fight it.
2. Become a pro: professionals show up and simply start working - knowing the rest will come.
3. Be very clear, and focus: set your three most important tasks for the day - focus on finishing them above all else.
4. Clear away distractions: when working on a task, close your email and IM programs. Do it.
5. Have a set time and place: start your day by doing your first most important task. It'll lift you.
6. Know your motivation: Can you answer in once sentence why the task on which you're working is important? Write down that sentence and keep it in front of you.
7. Just start.

I know in their bullety form, they come across as simple and self-evident, but I urge you to spend 4.2 minutes reading Leo's article. If your gut tells you you probably should, press that little button.

Have a good day; I gotta get back to work.

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Nights dark early now in the middle west. It's such a good time of year for early-morning and late-night reading. A few worth your time:

Firms of Endearment: Companies that swing with the pendulum of forces that move our world toward a better place and reward everyone - employees, society, and their shareholders - as a result. Shockingly good advice.

Made To Stick: What makes our eyes drowse at most communication but makes my Uncle Roger forward me emails about mysterious Bathtub Kidney Thieves? The Heath brothers will show you how to make your messages memorable.

Beyond Bullet Points: Cliff Atkinson will help you change the way you make presentations forever. 

The Mac is Not a typewriter: Did you know you were no longer supposed to put two spaces after a period? Me, neither. Robin Williams's (the other one) style guide for professional type layout. Nerdy but important for anyone who does this stuff. 

The War of Art: Buy this small book if you struggle to do the things you really want to do. Steven Pressfield shares a candid self-analysis at what gets in our way when we hope to change our own world. A great gift for budding artists of any age.

Influence - The Psychology of Persuasion: Dr. Robert Cialdini's classic national bestseller that "explains the psychology of why people say yes." This one's so good you won't want to share it with many people.

Accidental Magic: I've given more copies of this book as gifts than any other. Perfect for aspiring writers and photographers and students of things compelling.

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