This was my first time purchasing a copy of Cosmo Magazine. And I gotta say, it was kinda awkward. Especially because it was 10:30 PM and I was flipping through the pages in the middle of the store like a maniac, eagerly trying to locate the quiz. Luckily nobody else was in there.

When I approached the desk I lugged 10 copies of the January issue onto the counter. The cashier looked at me oddly and said, “So Scott…are these Christmas gifts?”

“No,” I laughed. “I actually helped write ‘The Quiz’ on page 122.”

Then she looked at me even more oddly.

Whatever. This quiz is awesome. And for all you ladies out there (namely, those ages 16-25), pick up a copy and find out how approachable you are. Also, now that I think about it, guys could still benefit from reading this issue. There’s a lot of great stuff in there which is still applicable to men.

Except the question about underwear. Yikes.

Here’s page 1 with the quiz:

Here’s page 2 with your scorecard:

You can also take the quiz online @ www.cosmo.com.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

If you could only subscribe to one magazine for the rest of your life, which would it be?

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
Author/Speaker/That guy with the nametag
www.hellomynameisscott.com

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later – I have officially jumped onto the Podcast Bandwagon! Thanks to some help from my friend, colleague and fellow podcaster Bob Baker, the first episode of “HELLO, my name is Podcast” is now available for download, streaming and XML subscription.

For those of you who are new to this technology (like me), here’s how you can tune in:

You can list LIVE on this blog. (See flash player below)

Listen LIVE on www.hellomynameispodcast.com. (All future episodes will be archived here)

Download past, present and future podcasts as MP3 files via XML on Itunes. (Read super simple directions on how to do this here.)

HELLO, my name is Podcast – Episode #1: The Power of Cool
Customers love, remember and spread the word about companies, ideas and products that are COOL.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

When was the last time you said, “That is SO cool!”?

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
Author/Speaker/That guy with the nametag
www.hellomynameisscott.com

Every summer I lead a workshop for YPO’s Junior Leadership University in Leysin, Switzerland. This year I met a lot of awesome kids, some of whom are pictured above. One student, Cam Scheible (bottom row, first on the left), recently IM’ed me with some great news. Since the beginning of the school year, Cam has actually been wearing a nametag every day at school! What’s more, the school paper did a story on him! Check out this article written by fellow high school student Caitlin Sherril:

You all have seen that crazy kid walking down the hallways with a name tag saying “Hello, my name is Cam.” No, he did not forget to take of his name tag after a convention, but he does it on purpose everyday! To many he is just some weird guy who wears a name tag, but I inquired about the mind behind the name tag.

“It’s really not my idea,” says Cam Scheible, junior, “I went to a summer camp and this guy named Scott said he had been wearing one for a couple of years now. As we all learned to say in unison, ‘It makes people friendlier and more approachable.'”

Yet some may not see the method to his madness, teachers have overall thought that it is an inspiring idea. Senora Juarez says, “It seems to make students more comfortable in the class room, especially him. When we have shadows come in it makes them feel very welcome.”

So put on a smile as he walks your way, because all he’s doing is trying to make you ‘friendlier and more approachable’!

“Thanks for the inspiration,” Scheible said. “I have only gotten one person to join me wearing name tags, but I’m going for more!”

Well…while I have never in five years encouraged any or all people to wear nametags, I gotta say: way to go Cam!

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

Seriously: would you actually consider wearing a nametag all the time?

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
Author/Speaker/That guy with the nametag
www.hellomynameisscott.com

A few months ago I sat down with all of my highlighted books, notes, seminar handouts, favorite quotations, classic one-liners and all other priceless pieces of business advice that have accumulated over the past 5 years.

Originally, it started out as a brainstorming exercise in which I wrote 100 pieces of business advice on 100 Post It Notes as a “Wall of Motivation.” I ended up liking it so much that I took the “best of” and wrote a quote book.

This quote book is a free download AND my holiday gift to the world!

66 Priceless Pieces of Business Advice I Couldn’t Live Without

So, as the holiday season gets under way, from all of us at Front Porch Productions (by which I mean me and my dogs) I wish you a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Joyful Kwanza and Fantastic Festivus.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

What’s the most priceless piece of business advice you’ve ever received?

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
Author/Speaker/That guy with the nametag
www.hellomynameisscott.com

The latest word of mouth marketing book, Grapevine, by Dave Balter & John Butman, has some awesome stuff. Check it out:

“Everybody talks about products and services, and they talk about them all the time. Word of mouth is NOT about identifying a small subgroup of highly influential or well-connected people to talk up a product or service. It’s not about mavens or bees or celebrities or people with specialist knowledge. It’s about everybody.”

“80 percent of word of mouth marketing happens off-line…in real time; real people talking to each other in the real word.”

“People are always influenced more by other people than they are by everything else.”

That first excerpt struck a chord with me: it’s about everybody.

I love that part.

It reminds me of a song lyric by one of my heroes, Glen Phillips:

“There is nothing that doesn’t matter. Every word is a seed that scatters. Everything matters.”

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

What’s your best word of mouth marketing secret?

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
Author/Speaker/That guy with the nametag
www.hellomynameisscott.com

In late 2002 my website went live. My webmaster, Chad Kouse, asked me an important question: do you want to include a counter at the bottom of each page?

And I thought, “Does anyone really care how many thousands of people have viewed my site?” Probably not.

But then I thought about McDonald’s. You see, when I was a kid, every Sunday my Grampa would take my brother, cousins and I to McDonald’s for breakfast. It was our favorite tradition. And every week the best part about our trip was pulling into the parking lot, looking up at that enormous yellow and red sign and wondering, “Hey, let’s see what the ‘number of people served’ is NOW!”

Do you remember when McDonald’s used to do this? As a kid, it was the coolest thing. I remember when it was 70 million, 89 million, 100 million, and eventually, a billion! (Obviously, McDonald’s has now served more people than can fit on a sign.)

Ok, back to the website. So in 2002, I thought that in the spirit of the McCounter, I would come up with MY OWN way to bring people back. Something different from any other site on the web. So Chad and I came up with this:

Now, keep in mind that in August of 2002, my streak was somewhere around 700 days wearing a nametag. But having that daily-increasing number at the bottom of every page served many purposes.

First of all, interviewers from TV, radio and print could cite the “number of days wearing a nametag.” This added a sense of credibility AND remarkability to their stories.

Next, I would use that number in my daily nametag-related conversations in two ways. First, when I’d explain the back story, i.e., “875 days ago…” it would enhance the believability of my story. And secondly, when people would ask, “Hey Scott, how many days is it now…?” I’d simply throw out a quick number like ‘906.’ And most people were amazed, although some of them thought I was Rainman.

Yeah. Definitely 906.

Lastly, it helped develop word of mouth online, first from people who blogged or linked to the site. It seemed to make their posts more interesting(and clickable) when they put a specific number of days by them. And then WOM developed from people who would start coming back to the site on a regular basis thinking, “I wonder how many days it’s been NOW!”

The key is: this is a number that brings people back. And it’s been working well for 3 years. So whether you have a store, and organization or a website, you’ve gotta find a way to bring people back. You’ve gotta keep them interested, intrigued and wondering to themselves, “I wonder what they’re up to NOW?”

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

How do you keep people coming back?

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
Author/Speaker/That guy with the nametag
www.hellomynameisscott.com

I’ve only had this nametag tattoo for a month. (Compliments of Joe Reinke from Iron Age Studio.)

But I’ve been keeping record of the reactions from people. Interestingly enough, just like the reactions from wearing my regular nametag, the tattooed nametag elicits several types of responses:

Laughter
Most people just start cracking up. They tend to be friends of mine who’ve heard about the tattoo, known me for years, and aren’t surprised (yet still slightly shocked) that I would actually do it.

Commendation
Phrases such as “That’s awesome!” “No way!” and “It’s about time!” have been commonplace. I usually reply with, “Yep. I did it. Believe it.”

Exclamation
I’ve had approximately 18 people drop their jaws and say “Holy sh*t!”

Disbelief
Funny – a lot of people think it’s fake. “Is that a Sharpie?!” they’d say. And I think the reason for this is because, tough as it is to admit, who the hell would tattoo a nametag on their chest? I suppose some people think it’s SO ridiculous, that it just couldn’t be real. But my response is, “Well, it’s about as real as my commitment.”

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

How did people react to your tattoo?

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
Author/Speaker/That guy with the nametag
www.hellomynameisscott.com

Every year I return to my alma matter, Green Trails Elementary School, to speak at their annual Book Fair. For an entire week they bring in local authors, athletes and educators to talk about the importance of reading and writing.

It was a riot. First I gave all the kids nametags. Then I read one of my favorite children’s books, Yay, You. I also spent some time talking about how I wrote my own books, and closed the session by letting the kindergarteners ask questions. Now, most of the kids forgot their questions by the time I called on them. Which was adorable. But one student named Daniel asked, “Scott, do you wear your nametag in the shower?”

I just grinned as I thought about my new tattoo. But alas, it was not appropriate to show it to the kids. So I just smiled and said, “Yes I do.”

The entire class busted out laughing! It was priceless. And you gotta wonder if the kids knew that I was serious.

Anyway, the next day I received an email from one of the students’ fathers. It read:

“My youngest son, Daniel, came home from kindergarten class and said that he wanted to wear his ‘Hello, My Name is Daniel’ nametag in the shower. When I told him it would probably wash off, we settled for wearing it to bed on his PJ’s. We then went to your web site and viewed the video clip, and he said, ‘That’s him. He told us how he wore a nametag to make people friendlier and he writes books and gives speeches! He’s cool.’

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

Is your idea simple enough that a five year old could understand it?

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
Author/Speaker/That guy with the nametag
www.hellomynameisscott.com

In the middle of dinner last night, an old friend from high school stopped by my table to say hello. After we caught up for a few minutes Adam said, “You know Scott, I was just reading about you the other day.”

“Really?” I said. “What were you reading?”

“Ripley’s Believe It Or Not.”

“What?! Ripley’s? Get the hell outta here!”

“Oh yeah, it’s in there. I just bought it. You should go check it out.”

Less than three minutes later, I found myself in the new releases section of my local Borders. I grabbed the latest edition of Ripley’s Believe It Or Not called Planet Eccentric. Then I flipped to the index under the letter “G.”

And that’s when I saw it:

Ginsberg, Scott, 23

NO WAY.

I voraciously turned the pages to the “Off The Wall” section. And on the left-hand side was a small paragraph which read:

* * * * Sense of Identity
Scott Ginsberg, of St. Louis, Illinois, has worn a nametag every day since November 2, 2000, just to find out what would happen. He now works with people who want to become more approachable – and says that wearing nametags is a great start.

Now, here’s the funny part: I’ve applied and been rejected by Guinness Book TWICE. (Read my rejection letter here.) Meanwhile, Ripley’s never called me; I never went through the submission process – I knew nothing about this!

So maybe that’s why the editors screwed up my home state. Because I live in St. Louis, MISSOURI; not St. Louis, ILLINOIS. And for those of you not familiar with the area, (East) St. Louis, Illinois is home of dozens of all night dance/strip clubs and the highest crime rate in the United States. Not exactly my kind of town.

So believe it or not, Ripley’s doesn’t check their facts. 😉

Anyway, I scanned page 23 so you can view the entry here.

Still, I think the funniest part about this whole thing is the entry right next to mine. It’s a picture of a guy named Leo Kongee of Pittsburgh who is know as “The Painless Wonder” because he can drive as many as 60 nails into his nose without feeling any discomfort.

In which case, I think it’s safe to say: I’ve arrived.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

What’s the most unbelievable thing you’ve ever seen?

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
Author/Speaker/That guy with the nametag
www.hellomynameisscott.com

On the way up to my mastermind meeting at The Hughes Groupthis morning, I noticed something unique in the elevator. There were 18 floor buttons, but one of them didn’t have a number on it. Rather, it simply said: HUGHES.

(Good thing, because I’d completely spaced out on the floor of my meeting!)

Later on the way out, my friend Andy Masters made a comment about how the labeled floor light was a great front porch for The Hughes Group. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized how effective this button was in respect to professional approachability.

In the midst of 17 other vaguely numbered floor lights, only ONE had a name. Only ONE was personable. And so, the button made clients (or guests) feel comfortable by easing the commonly felt pain of, “Oh darn it, what floor was my meeting on again?!”

It’s all about the little things.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

How does your office make clients & guests feel comfortable?

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
Author/Speaker/That guy with the nametag
www.hellomynameisscott.com