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In light of the St. Louis Cardinals’ recent division clinch (woo hoo!), I wanted to say a few words about Tony La Russa. This picture perfectly captures Tony’s demeanor during every Cardinal game. He’s like stone. Dark glasses. Very little emotion. A perfect baseball poker face. Now, he does that strategically. And that’s one reason he’s the second highest winning coach in Cardinals history. Off the field, however, Tony…

When I worked in guest services at The Ritz Carlton, I noticed some employees had a tendency to overuse guests’ names. Unfortunately, after a certain point, it worked in reverse. (Especially in conversations under 7 minutes) Name overkill doesn’t just happen in the hotel industry – it’s everywhere. Sure, we know people love to hear their names more than any word in the dictionary. But there comes a point…

I spent last Thursday hosting several staff training sessions at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place. It was incredible! From the housekeepers to the bellman to the sales force, all employees at the property made it obvious why they’re one of the most profitable Hyatts in the country. About halfway through one of the afternoon sessions, I noticed a man sitting in the front row. Literally, he was sitting IN…

I was standing on the front drive of the Hyatt Regency McCormick place right after we finished a productive day of staff training. While waiting for my airport-bound taxi, a woman with a small rolling suitcase passed me. She then stopped in her tracks, looked at my nametag and backed up. “Hey Scott!” she whispered as she peered around the drive like she was under video surveillance. “Are you…

You aren’t gonna believe this one. When the waiter at Macaroni Grill came to the table to greet my Grandmother and me, he informed us of a most shocking statistic. “Our special this month was ‘Chicken Corrina,’ but unfortunately we’ve received about 10,000 complaints nationwide from customers who think that such a name for a dinner special is too close to ‘Katrina.’ So, the corporate office instructed all stores…

If you walk into your local bookstore and pick up any random title on interpersonal communication, the majority of the books will simply remind you to “always be approachable.” Wow, you think, thanks for the advice. But when you walk into a room full of strangers, attend a national conference or start a new job, that advice doesn’t help maximize your approachability. In the book The Power of Approachability,…

Last Wednesday’s post asked a challenging question: “What’s the most important word in marketing?” The response from the blogosphere was overwhelming! Ideas poured in from authors, consultants, marketing experts and small business owners from around the world. Selected words ranged from the emotionally charged to the pragmatic; from the right brain to the left brain and from the customer focused to the company focus. It generated so much buzz…

The Sunday edition of the Boston Herald ran a hilarious column by Mike Pingree called Please officer, I was only kidding, honest. It cites several police incidents that were, well…stupid. This one was my favorite: “A man broke into a school facility in Albuquerque, N.M., and stole some computer equipment, but he left behind the nametag he wore at the restaurant where he worked. The name was ‘Sam.’ The…

…I have no idea. But I suspected Google had the answer. So, according to 625 Google references to the exact phrase “most important word in marketing,” the following are the five most common answers: 1) YOU “I’ve always said that the most important word in marketing is YOU. That is, your marketing needs to convey very clearly what’s in it for the client or customer. ‘This is what YOU…

(This is the third post in a series of incidents regarding an article by Jeff Shaffer in the August 26th issue of the Christian Science Monitor.) This is the first time I’ve ever written a letter to the editor. Mainly because it’s the first time I’ve ever read an article about why people should wear nametags. Click here to read the LTE in today’s issue of the Christian Science…