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Think of the most horrible sound imaginable. Maybe it’s fingers on a chalkboard. Maybe it’s a baby screaming in pain. Maybe it’s someone choking on a piece of broccoli. Maybe it’s turning over the ignition on your car when it’s already started. Yecch! Makes your skin crawl, huh? Exactly. That’s the effect noise has on people. Now think of the most beautiful music imaginable. Maybe it’s a song from…

Let’s say a customer comes to you with a complaint. Maybe in person, via email or over the phone. What’s the best approach? It’s simple: SSTOP! No, that wasn’t a typo. You read it right: SSTOP. And it represents a five-step process for approaching problems, diffusing anger, changing minds and winning the customer back. Let’s take a look. S is for SURPRISE. Psychologically, if you respond to a problem,…

I figured since everyone else in the world already threw in their two cents about PowerPoint, I may as well do the same. Here are my (only) two rules: 1. PowerPoint is for PICTURES 2. Slides = 8 words or less That’s it. Also, a lot of my audience members have been requesting my slides lately. I thought I’d pull a Tom Peters and just post them here for…

Um, because it’s AWESOME, that’s why. I don’t care if a guy fell out of the 17th floor window and miraculously survived, my friends at the Hyatt Minneapolis rock. Look at their sweet elevator button. Classic example of making the mundane memorable. I’ve never seen an elevator in all my life with such a great button. (Except maybe The Hughes Group from last year’s post, elevator action.) Now, I…

Little did I know that I would be doing staff training at the Minneapolis Hyatt one week after this happened: Man Falls From 17th Floor at Minneapolis Hotel, Survives According to the article, a Wisconsin man in town for a dart tournament apparently was goofing around Saturday morning at the Minneapolis Hyatt Regency when he crashed through a window and fell 16 stories. The man, identified in a police…

(To read part 1 of this series, click here!) (To read part 2 of this series, click here!) Soda Jerk Virginia. 1880’s. The characters were: 1) A mischievous young employee at the neighborhood soda fountain, 2) The local doctor who owned the soda fountain, and 3) His beautiful young daughter who drove that boy crazy. Seeing little future in the lives of the two lovebirds, Doc fired the boy….

Imagine you’re waiting in line at the airport. A really LONG line. BAD NEWS: you’ve missed your connecting flight. There’s no way you’ll make it to your meeting on time. After about twenty-five frustrating minutes, you finally approach the counter. You throw down your luggage, put your hands on your hips and exclaim, “You know, I’ve been waiting here for nearly half an hour!” And the first words out…

(To read part 1 of this series, click here!) Cha-Ching In 1882, John Patterson’s retail store was losing money. Unfortunately he couldn’t handle all the transactions himself. There was no way to stop money from leaking. He was headed for bankruptcy. Then he heard about a strange device being used in Dayton Ohio. It actually enforced the correct recording of daily sales! After incorporating one of these crude machines…

This is a continuation of last week’s popular post, Sticky Note Your Way to Success, Part 1. To quickly summarize, the following motivational, thought provoking questions are to be written with a big fat Sharpie on a sticky note and posted in your office, car or bathroom. WARNING: this exercise may lead to incredible success. 5. What did you write today? Every time a new friend or client comes…

For the second year in a row, Colchester, CT is celebrating Annual Nametag Day! Jason Cohen and I (mainly Jay) started this holiday back in 2006. This year we actually got a decent amount of local press, thanks to all the hype around my new friend Joe Porcelli from Neighbors for Neighbors who (unrelated, believe it or not) wore a nametag every day for the past year. Way to…