I hear that last week of January is the most depressing of the year.   It gives most people the blues.  The NPR segment of Marketplace Money I heard Saturday,  January 30th, certainly did nothing to dispel that myth for me.   I feel like my mother after listening to this segment on Marketplace Money: What is this world coming to?

The link below is the interview of author Lisa Dobson who is selling a new book unbelievably named, The Underground Morality.   There is nothing moral about this book.  She advocates “market adjustments” by employees and managers to right their perceived economic wrong:  Steal from your employer to give to other employees.

Tess Vigeland, the show host says nothing to challenge this reprehensible author, nor does she play this crazy concept forward in terms of what it means to our economy where employees blithely steal prom dresses, pad overtime and do other altruistic theft in the name of morality.  

So Tess, why don’t you try this idea out on your show with staff interns or others YOU think are underpaid and lets just see how that all works out for you and the employee when you get caught.  Maybe American Public Media will put out a policy on how to steal from them so all in your company can participate in the company’s new: Economic Market Adjustments Initiative Policy.  I see a 40 page manual.  

It seem Ms. Dobson found plenty of underground morality out there.   That is what freaks me out.  She wrote a whole book on how to steal.  Hey, Ms. Smartypants-Big-Box Store Manager:  Spend you own money buying a prom dress for your employee’s daughter instead of “finding one that didn’t sell” that you gave to your employee.  

And you Mr-Pad-the-Overtime-Hours restaurant manager- why not start a general tip jar or find assistance, either from you, or other folks willing to help your workers instead of lie and steal from your employer.   At no time in this segment was there even a mention of how to help struggling worker with their own money.  It was all about theft from the employer.

Small businesses have lots on their plates to worry about and now we have this crazy woman out there telling employees it is moral to rip us off. 

I have dealt with employee theft and it is heartbreaking to find out when trusted employees steal from you.  I see in our culture this kind of incrementalism that hey, maybe stuff like this isn’s so bad?  But it is wrong!  Where does Dobson miss this? And how can she and Tess Vigeland not even see it?

Join me in challenging Ms Dobson and lets call what she characterizes as “underground morality” what it really is:   Stealing.    Contact me if you are with me.  pady@scpromo.com

http://tinyurl.com/yfu4y4q

I have to share the most amazing customer service I had this week at Costco while getting gas.  Do you ever think of Costco as the epicenter for customer service?  I bet not.  

At the pump a fully parka inflated gentleman with the kindest smile and bearded face, monitoring the gas lanes, came up to me and said, “Let me pump that for you and let me clean the salt off your windows.” 

He was so happy, so enthusied to be out there on a cold Minnesota day to help me that I was speechless.  He exuded geniune care and appreciation that it knocked me over.  Wow.

On the same note I just came back from a trade show and heard a wonderful speaker:  Scott McKain.  Scott tells another story of a Jacksonville, Florida taxi driver that takes customer service and care to the highest level. 

This taxi drive also capitalized on this penchant for customer service.   What Blue Sky opportunities he was able to find simply through his absolute commitment to customer service.  Watch this video.  Its great.  P  http://tinyurl.com/yok9k3    

What did you do for the holidays?  Well one of the things our team did was have a blast putting on a Company Store fashion show.    Our Retail management team of Julie, Lori and a crew dancers one of which was Maddy had a little fun showing off everything from our great logo products to our dry cleaning and sandwiches!  And of course there were Snugglers!   Happy New Year everyone.   Check out the video.   My favorite continues to be the Snuggler, but the Chicago Fire Soccer Jersey and NASCAR outfits were cute too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7j4uqn3DUgc

Give your customers a price point that works for them with great value and they will buy.   Check out the article in the Minneapolis Business Journal this week about our new Holiday HQ program.   Our $5, $10, $20 stocking stuffer program is works and we are excited to see our retail sales increasing.

We also are finding our business clients who purchase logo, gift and recognition products and programs love price point programs that still say thank you now on a budget.  Check out our article and what are your thoughts about buying and giving this holiday?   What is motivating you?  Let me know: pady@scpromo.com

http://twincities.bizjournals.com/twincities/stories/2009/11/30/focus1.html?b=1259557200^2507321

You would never think finding amazing, knock you over customer service would be at a doctors office.  But that is where I found it.   Tria Orthopaedic Center in Bloomington Minnesota.  It was a WOW experience from the minute I finally found the parking lot until an hour and twenty minutes later when I walked out of there all patched up and cured. 

I had a minor but aggravating hip injury and it has been such a hassle to get an appointment at Park Nicollet.  You hope you call the right “general number”, sit on hold and then get transferred.  If you do get an appointment in this century it is a stepping stone appointment to nowhere.  You will more than likely go one place for one thing, another place for xray or mri, different days, yadda, yadda.   What a royal pain and in the meantime you limp.

I decided to just stop at this beautiful Tria building I have watched rise from the frontage road dust at 494 and France driving  to work everyday.  I will just stop by and try to set up an appointment instead of navagating some robo-phone system.   Did their tv ad’s influence me?  Its possible.

I walked in the door and saw a lovely retail store on the right, huge, bright, modern yet warm  reception area with a great snackbar.   (Fix your hip and eat a chocolate chip cookie- my kind of place.)  The picture wall of the Doc’s and associates all wearing black casual shirts, not a stethoscope or white jackets, was contemporary and cool, even though some of these Doc’s looked like they were 12 years old to me.   Full disclosure:  Doc’s do wear white jackets when they see you.

Sport memorabilia was everywhere and the whole feel was very sports, youth oriented yet you saw older folks with walkers and who looked perfectly comfortable.  There are elegant, yet quirky displays of sports memorabilia that have the appearance of an art gallery- ok, that might be a stretch.

They definitely want you to know they work on the best.  The signed Adrian Peterson poster caught my eye.   If they are good enough for #28, they must be able to fix me, is the psychological jump you make.   I know better but can’t help it.  

I was immediately greeted by another black clad receptionist (is this the Lancome counter at Macy’s, or what?) and as she smiled she said the Tria mantra:  “We are so glad you came ” It may sound trite, but every single person I encountered at Tria said this to me, and after a while you really did feel they were glad to see you.   Trained and measured customer service at a Doctor’s office, pretty cool.  

The receptionist told me I could be seen not only that day, but that minute.  She walked me upstairs to the check in receptionist, in black, and within 30 minutes I had a workup, xray and was seen by a Doctor who did not look 12, but maybe 19 years old.  All was well, a little shot to help with swelling and then out the door I went, limping no more.

So not only was Tria efficient, pleasant, welcoming they got the job done on demand.  It was a WOW experience.   And inspirational challenge for our company to execute this kind of WOW everyday with our On Demand products and retail customer service.   

Now we will see if the Tria bill is a WOW.

We went to see “This is it” last weekend.  The Michael Jackson movie made of rehearsal footage for his, now defunct, sold out 50 date concert series in London.  My husband Dennis grudgingly came along with a “I will get even with you” look in his eyes.   I loved Michael Jackson.  I was saddened and puzzled by all his troubles; yet he was a one-of-a-kind entertainer and true creative professional. 

MJ’s concerts were the best you could ever hope to attend: All visual, magic and rock.   If I had to rank concert talent it would be Michael, Prince and U2.   The Beatles and the Monkees were pretty cool too but that was a long time ago and there was alot of screaming involved.  Remembering those concerts makes me feel lucky to have seen them but, man, can that be 40 years ago?  Yikes.  (I was one of the lucky 11 year old girls at the Monkee concert to be given $2 to start screaming when they came on stage by promoters.)

You simply have to admire a world and culture that can dream big ideas and make them a reality.   In one part of the movie the director was trying to come up with a specific cue for a song to start and MJ, who looks truly fit, healthy, respectful and in charge, says;  “don’t worry about that, I will feel it and start then.”   That  ”feel” part of creativity captivates me.   How do you find and execute:   ”I will feel it. ”   

Yesterday while thinking about the discipline of the creative process the movie inspired I came across an article in yesterday’s Minneapolis Star Tribune.   Glenn Karwoski, is billed as an ”Idea Man” teaching the capturing the creative process to companies.  

I think he is right when he says “one  of the enemies of creativity and innovation is success….complacency… There is nothing like fear and panic to make someone get creative real fast.“  He seems to have a techinique to answer the question: yeah, great idea but now what?   He might be a useful speaker at our industry meetings and summits.  http://www.startribune.com/business/69438047.html?elr=KArksUUUoDEy3LGDiO7aiU 

Our promotional and retail business is a like this.  Creativity drives ideas, but how to pick the right ones  and execute successfully is where it is at.   We constantly strive for that creative edge, yet creativity won’t win without the preparation and execution.   Visiting the clouds of creativity, but coming down to earth, Karwoski seems to understand that,  MJ’’s felt it.

Back to MJ – Spoiler alert: Toward the end of the movie, the best part in my opinion,  MJ rehearses Billie Jean and does a full out dance with the song in front of just his backup dancers.  The movie theater is rock-still watching this amazingly gifted entertainer pull out perfection just for his team:   No audience, creative juice and execution.  And at the end of this amazing number he says, “and it will be something like that”.  The dancers and extras go  wild because they know they have witnessed something pretty magical.   

How sad we will never see the full vision of MJ.   That unique, creative discipline is gone.    And make no mistake about it, even with all his troubles this was a disciplined, team oriented guy.  See “This is it” even if you don’t like MJ.   This show would have been a monster hit.

Enjoy one of Billie Jean and Black & White below. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=En-cHBv7UpA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI9OYMRwN1Q

This week there are two columns by Tom Friedman and David Brooks about education that have caught my eye.  Not real sexy stuff here but I have been thinking about what makes a great employee or business lately and these articles took me back to thinking about education and how it impacts people we hire for our business.   (Yes, we are a business who is hiring again.)  Most think our educational system is a failed, bankrupt and crumbling system.  

I live in the suburbs and see mostly good ones, but boy do I worry about the bad ones.   When we hire many of our workers it can be very apparent that some come from pretty bad ones, even in the great State of Minnesota and even college grads.   You see the failed systems, family or schools,  right in front of your eyes on the written employee application.   Yikes!

Brooks and Friedman, both of the New York Times, wrote in their own ways about what is hidden from the front pages  about the fledgling work for education reform.   There is a lot going on behind the scenes that I can get excited about.  And you know things must be getting better when you have Jeb Bush, Al Sharpton and Bill Gates all applauding the efforts of Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education.

I completely agree with Friedman that winners will be the new “untouchables”.  These are the people who make things happen- no excuses.  They have the brain and emotional intelligence to find opportunities and then do something with them.   I see them everyday.  We all recognize them in our families, our work, our churches and in school.   And we all know the ones who don’t have it and won’t ever get it. 

The question I have is:   can you teach this- “untouchable-ness”   Or is the drive to be the one who makes things happen something that is bred in families and culture- and education is only the gloss? 

David Brooks in his column this week writes about Duncan’s educational reform efforts without reference to Friedman’s term ”untouchable”.  Duncan is an untouchable.  And I love the competition, real world efforts he is using to drive reform.  I have experienced many educators who don’t seem of this world so this is new and refreshing for me.  

There is nothing more boring to the media then something that is actually working.  Therefore, we don’t hear much about educational reform.  What is so frustrating and head-bangingly mystifying is why the biggest laggards to the education reform party are the very people who should be in the forefront- teachers.

I hope the piles of money being used for this competition between states works.   Maybe adding the real world of reward system of promoting educational untouchables and showing the door to the rest will be the best test for me to see if it really will work.   Will teacher’s unions allow that to happen.   Hmmm, I will get back to you on that.     Check out the two columns I refereneced below. 

We did an amazing things this week at our place.  We held two Holiday HQ open house events…….hosted a buying group event at one of our client’s corporate offices……..redid our showroom (so darn cute and all ready for the holidays)……..sent out a slew of marketing materials………reset all our stores for our Stocking Stuffer HQ $5, $10, $20 program……..we are in the middle of opening a  new store at MSP Airport…….AND on top of that we are having one of our best sales months in our Promotions division- ever- with our retail division pacing way ahead of last year sales.  We are bucking all the woe-is-me economic news out there.   Whew, I am tired just typing this…

Thank you, thank you, thank you wonderful, dedicated, smart and terrific staff at St. Croix Promotions and Retail.   We truly are REFUSING TO PARTICIPATE IN THE RECESSION.   And it is because of all  your hard work and dedication. 

Special thanks too to Laurie Crow owner of Sinful Wine & Liquors in Bloomington.  She hosted our wine tasting at our Holiday HQ event and you must check out her store at Southtown Center.  Laurie is the winner of the 2009 Woman on the Move award from SCORE.  She can do custom branded label wine and check out all her wine events. http://www.sinfulwine.com

 One last thing, we are St. Croix Promotions would like to extend our sadness and sympathy at the passing of one of the true professionals in our business:  Charlie Irish from Spartan Promotions.   To Charlie’s friends, family, collegues and customers please accept our condolences and God Bless Charlie.

My iPhone had that thing.  That  Google”trojan” thing that disrupted life for at least two weeks.   My close family and friends who heard my constant yipping would say it was months.  Everything on the phone was super slow and texting was like watching paint dry on a humid day. 

Aren’t we all fascinated and frustrated by technology? I generally love my iPhone, but the I get the Microsoft commercial that states “I am not cool enough to be an Apple”.  

I made an appointment at my local Apple Store and one of the a blond-highlighted-faux-hawk ”Geniuses”, in a tee shirt telling you he is a “Genius”, wiped out my phone to kill that trojan.  I felt like I was killing off a friend- my poor baby iPhone.   

This Apple Genuis had been trained well to act emphatically with canned “I understand”, “I hear you” reaffirmantions coming out of pierced lips.  In all fairness, it was 8:30pm, yet I’m pretty sure he rolled his eyes- not the best customer service attitude.

It was clear to both of us that I was not cool enough to be there.  He was the sterotype of Apple cool.  And I was all PC in the same sterotypical way,  I just didn’t have on black socks, (bad sandals though).  

To be fair to Apple I had the exact opposite experience in Chicago with their store on Michigan Avenue.   Again, at closing I had a problem, and this Genius genuinely tried to help me and he gave me a used charger cord to use with a wink saying, “Don’t tell anyone.”  What a doll.

It reminded me how important not just saying the right words in customer service, but really meaning it.  Genuinely wanting to help with a servant attitude to assist because, lets face it:    The quality of any relationship is how you handle it when things go wrong.  And the longer you work with someone things will go wrong. 

So how do you handle it?   Never with rolled eyes I hope.

Here is a cute Arlo and Janis that made me laugh, I hope you like it too.  Now can someone tell me the best model of Kindle to buy, so I have another gadget to drive me crazy?

http://comics.com/arlo&janis/2009-08-20/

I was at a recent seminar and a question was asked that had me scratching my head-  “How do you deal with clients finding items on the internet and chasing only the lowest prices.”  Why would anyone risk this in today’s where-the-heck-was-that-made-and-by-whom environment.

You may get lucky and the tote you buy won’t be made in some sweatshop, or the plastic bottle you save a dime on won’t be filled with poisonous chemical plastics, or maybe that tee shirt really is organic, or maybe not.  As Mattel learned even if you think you are careful things aren’t always as they seem.  

So knock yourself out,  if you don’t respect your brand enough to make sure you are not only getting a great price but also a responsibly made and safe product, then go for it knucklehead.   And then lets talk about delivery, meeting your deadline and easing your mind about that event you need this product for…well, good luck with that too.

Our industry is still in the 90’s in many quality ways, except for the “Good Guys” as I call them.  The folks, our great suppliers, who care about their brand as much as yours and know what they are doing.  No one can tell you that every single item we sell is 100% inspected, but if you trust industry professionals you won’t be on the front page with some kid having ingested some race bracelet you saved $.02 on and died.

Don’ save a nickel and lose your brand– or your business.