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Author: Phil Wrzesinski

Phil Wrzesinski is the National Sales Manager of HABA USA toy company, a Former Top-Level, Award-Winning Retailer, a Thought-Provoking Speaker, a Prolific Author, a 10-Handicap Golfer, an Entertaining Singer/Songwriter, and a Klutz Kid who enjoys anything to do with the water (including drinking it fermented with hops and barley), anything to do with helping local independent businesses thrive, and anything that puts a smile on peoples' faces.

The Aha Moment (Or the Simplest Business Success Formula Ever!)

I’ve been looking at different job titles and job descriptions lately. The two that seem to grab my attention the most are the Marketing & Advertising jobs and the Managing People jobs. At first glance I figured I was drawn to those because those were two of my favorite things to do at Toy House.

Another thought hit me this morning on my drive home from dropping my son off at school.

Those two different jobs are really the same thing. Stop and think about it.

  • Awesome Customer Service is about figuring out your customer’s expectations and then exceeding them with surprise and delight.
  • Top-Level Selling is about figuring out your customer’s needs and then fulfilling them better than she expected.
  • Powerful Advertising is about figuring out your customer’s desires and then offering a solution better than she expected.
  • Amazing Events are about figuring out what your customer likes and then offering her more than she expects when she attends.
  • Incredible Managing is about figuring out what tools your team needs to be successful and then giving them better tools that take them beyond what they thought was possible.

It’s all the same thing.

  1. Figure out what she desires, needs, and expects.
  2. Give her more than she desires, needs, and expects.

That is the formula for a successful retail business. That is the formula for a successful service company. That is the formula for successful manufacturer. That is the formula for a successful advertising campaign. That is the formula for successfully managing your team. That is the formula for being successful as an employee.

The first part requires research. The first part is about studying human nature, watching market trends, thinking like a customer. The first part is about asking questions, listening, and analyzing what you hear. The first part is about testing and clarifying and testing some more. You’ll get it right some times and you’ll get it wrong some times. The better you do your research, the more often you will get it right.

The second part is about having that character trait in you that wants to help others. When you hire and train your team, look specifically for that trait and you’ll find the second part of the formula becomes second nature to your company. Your team will already want to give. You just have to show them what to give.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS An employee that figures out exactly what the boss wants and then gives the boss more than she wants will always have a meaningful job. A manager that equips her team with tools to make them better than they thought possible will always find people wanting to work for her. A marketer that can figure out the true desires of the customer base and speak to those desires will always move the needle. A salesperson who can figure out the exact problem a customer is trying to solve and then offer a solution better than she envisioned will always make more sales. A manufacturer who anticipates the needs of both the end user and the middleman and sets up a business to exceed both their expectations will find growth.

PPS I answered my own question. My Core Values include Helping Others and Education. I already have that character trait of giving (that’s why I write this blog and publish all the Free Resources). The Education side of me wants to do the research to figure out what to give.

How Social Media Advertising Might Be Hurting Your Business

As a speaker I am constantly submitting my talks to conferences in an attempt to get hired. I am also looking at their websites to see what kinds of talks they hosted at their last conference. Time and time again they have speakers talking about how to advertise on social media. Rarely does anyone have talks anymore on how to use radio or build a website or craft an email (even though statistics show email is more effective than social media).

Then today I ran across this little three-minute audio from NPR. Go ahead and listen to it. I’ll wait …

Image result for social media advertisingIt is something I have been saying from the very beginning of the social media craze.

(For those of you unable to click and listen, the gist of the report is about a study done in China. Although promotional ads on social media have a short-term immediate effect of a small boost in sales, they have a long-term effect of driving away followers.)

Roy H. Williams, aka The Wizard of Ads, taught me this back in 2005 and I’ve tested it time and time again and found it to be true. There are two types of customers for every industry—those who believe they are the expert and are shopping on price and those who know they are not the expert and are looking for an expert they can trust.

The former are called Transactional Customers. They look at every purchase as a single transaction with no relation to previous purchases. They believe they are the expert. They know exactly what they want. They will check many different places to find the best price. They are driven by the fear of paying too much. Once they make the purchase, they brag to everyone about what a great shopper they are, but have no loyalty to the store.

The latter are called Relational Customers. They look at each purchase as one in a series of purchases. They do not believe they know all the answers. They are looking for an expert they trust who will steer them to the right item. Their fear is buying the wrong item. While they do not brag much about their purchase, they do love to brag about their store and once they find the person/store they trust, they are highly loyal to that person/store.

The split is pretty much 50/50 in any category (slightly more Transactional in commodity categories like grocery or during economic downturns, slightly more Relational in bespoke categories such as fashion). But since Transactional Customers are more prone to shop around, it feels like more people are “price” shoppers than really are.

When it comes to advertising, promotional ads and discounts are Pavlov’s Bell to Transactional Customers. They love to hear about sales and discounts and promos. At the same time they are fingernails on the chalkboard to Relational Customers. Since RC’s are looking for trust, those same promotional ads not only don’t foster trust, they turn the RC’s off and destroy trust.

Social Media is about building relationships. Social Media is for your fans. Social Media is all about the RC’s. Yeah, you might see a small bump in sales. We are all both TC and RC as consumers, depending on the product. When you run your ad, you find the TC’s in your crowd for that particular product. But at what risk? Run those promos all the time and you drive away the RC’s social media is best at helping you reach.

Here’s my two-minute presentation on Social Media …

Use it to build Trust. Ask questions. Listen to feedback. Post useful information. Answer all questions asked of you. Respond quickly, politely, thoroughly (even the trolls). Build trust. Share information from other sources. Stay true to your Core Values. Write interesting content. Post pictures and videos of your products in use. Build trust. Be honest about the downside. Talk about benefits of the product. Relate to the way people use your stuff. Help your customers picture already owning your product. Post daily with something of value. Post shareworthy stuff. Build trust.

If you want to run an ad on social media, run an ad for your event. Events have deadlines which creates excitement. Events are attractive to both RC’s and TC’s because events imply relationship-building (interacting in a fun way with the brand) and promotions (some kind of discount). You can get the bump without driving people away.

I get it. Social Media is sexy. It is new. It is hip. Everyone is on their phones and online. That’s cool. Just be sure no matter what media you use that you play to that media’s strength.

Now if you ever want to talk about some less sexy things proven to move the needle like radio or websites or crafting an email …

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS In case it wasn’t clear above, TC’s are price-sensitive, only buy what is discounted, and have no loyalty to your store. RC’s are not as price-sensitive and have tremendous loyalty to your store (if you build that trust). The stronger you market yourself to one of these types, the less attractive you become to the other. Pick one and go after them strongly, because half-ass marketing to both is an even quicker way to fail.

PPS RC’s care about price, too. Just not in the same way as TC’s. You can’t gouge the heck out of an RC just because of the relationship. When they find out you’ve been gouging them, you will have destroyed all trust and lost them forever.

When You’re Good to Momma

On a trip to NYC for Toy Fair a few years ago I met a family that came to the city just to go to Broadway shows. That sounded like a dream trip to me. I love musical theater. I wish Netflix had more “live Broadway” shows than they currently do. In spite of what the critics say about them, I even love movies based on Broadway shows (yes, including Evita!) One of my favorites is Chicago. There are a few songs I could watch over and over.

One is Queen Latifah singing “When You’re Good to Momma” about the Law of Reciprocity.

Last night I had my own Law of Reciprocity moment. I received an act of great generosity from someone because of the generosity this person received many decades ago from my grandfather. I will have to pay it forward as she did.

That’s how it works. You do something good for me and I feel the urge to do something good for you. If I can’t do something good for you, I pay it forward.

Bob Negen gives the example of walking through a set of doors. If two guys approach at the same time and one offers to hold the door open for the other, at the next set of doors the the other guy will hold them open for the first. It is a social contract.

Liberty Mutual did a whole commercial campaign around the idea of paying it forward (here is the full video, grab your tissue.) 

It also works in reverse. If you’re rude or disrespectful to me, I may fire back in kind. We’ve certainly seen a lot of that in the past several years.

As a business owner, however, you have one choice that works long term—Generosity.

Be generous in your offerings. Be generous in your kindness, your helpfulness, and your time. Be as generous for the customer spending $2.50 as you are for the customer spending $2,500. It pays in the long run.

Generosity helps your business in many ways.

  • First, it leads to more word-of-mouth. When your generosity is genuine, unexpected, and sincere, people talk about that to their friends.
  • Second, it leads to reciprocity. Generosity more often leads to trust, which leads to more sales. Yet even if your customers are not generous directly back to you, they may pay it forward, and that helps out everyone.
  • Third, you feel better. An eye-for-an-eye leaves the whole world blind.
  • Fourth, your customers are watching and judging you by your actions. In fact, unfair as it is, they are judging all small businesses by your actions.

The little things you do that you don’t have to do are big things in your customers’ eyes.

“You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.” -James D. Miles

You have the choice of the reciprocity you wish to receive and the reciprocity you wish to foist upon the world. Generosity is the winning formula for small businesses.

Be good to Momma.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Calling another store to see if they have something you don’t carry is generous. Carrying heavy packages out to your customer’s car is generous. Offering free valet parking in a downtown setting is generous.  Making the customer look like a hero to her family or friends is generous. Adding an unexpected gift-with-purchase is generous. Spending time to get to know the customer, talk to her kids, and be interested in her life is generous. Treating the customers “just looking” with kindness, respect, and helpfulness is generous. Ask your staff at your next meeting. I am sure they can come up with some more ideas of ways to be generous.

Taking My Own Advice

If you ever stopped by my office at Toy House, you saw the frying pans on the wall behind my head. Each one had a hole right through the bottom of the pan.

Target practice?

Nope. Just one big solitary spike sticking straight up out of a board, upon which I slammed each of those frying pans during a presentation.

The demonstration comes from a story I heard ages ago about a copywriter asked to write the ad copy for a big company. I include the story in my new book Most Ads Suck (But Yours Won’t). Here is the excerpt from the book …

A large company wasn’t getting the results they wanted out of their advertising. The company sequesters its marketing team away for the day to come up with a new campaign. After hours of deliberation and debate, the team finally comes up with the twelve most important talking points for the new campaign.

They call in the copywriter.

The team leader starts explaining to the copywriter all the points they need made.

“Point number one, blah, blah, blah. Point number two, blah, blah, blah …”

At this moment the team leader looks up to see the copywriter sitting there doing nothing.

“Aren’t you going to take any notes?”

Silently, the copywriter reaches into a large bag by his feet and pulls out a board with twelve shiny nails sticking straight up out of the board. He lays it down on the table, nails pointing upward. He then takes out a frying pan and slams it down on the bed of nails. The whole room echoes with the sound as the advertising team all jumps backwards. The copywriter then holds up the pan so that everyone can see the pattern of indents from the nails on the bottom of the pan.

The copywriter then pulls out another board. This one has one solitary spike on it. He places it on the table and slams the frying pan down onto this board. The spike impales the pan instantly. The pan goes down flush, stuck to the board.

The copywriter looks up at the startled crowd and asks, “How many points do you want me to make?”

I gave you my resume last week. That’s the whole kit and kaboodle (almost) of all my skills and talents all rolled into one. Out in the world of job applications, however, I am busy applying the Make Only One Point principle to my resume. Depending on the job, my resume will be tailored to include only the relevant information.

If I am applying to a Marketing & Advertising Job you don’t need to see all my Corporate Training experience. If I am applying to a Corporate Trainer job, you don’t need to know that I managed a multi-million dollar inventory. If I am applying to an Inventory Control job, you don’t need to know about the extra training I took at Wizard Academy. I’m trimming it down to the information you need (and providing more detail of that relevant info in the process.)

Make Only One Point works in advertising. It works in blogs. It works in emails. It works in pretty much all persuasive copy. It also works when applying to a job. It also works when communicating with your children. It just plain works. Adopt it and see how your results change.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS One of the benefits I have seen from making only one point in emails is that it eliminates questions going unanswered. People often respond to the first question in an email and rarely even read the second question. Also, it helps people who sort their emails by topic. If you have two points from different topics, you make it difficult for the other person to sort your email in a relevant fashion. Get the point?

PPS The demo is part of the Making Your Ads More Effective presentation. Everyone seems to like that part. They also like the advertising makeovers I do at the end. That’s the real meat. They get to see the six principles put into action. Call me when your group wants to take your advertising to the next level.

When Being Clever Backfires

We were standing on the back patio looking up at the stars. The big dipper was only slightly obscured behind a tall cedar tree. You could see enough of it to recognize the constellation.

“Where’s the North Star?”

I pointed directly at it, proud of my astronomical knowledge.

“That’s it? That’s not very impressive.”

Have you ever thought you were being clever and then had someone just blow it up for you? That was one of those moments. We had a good laugh.

Unfortunately for some companies, they roll out something they think is clever without first testing it to see how quickly and easily someone might punch holes in their cleverness, or not understand the inside joke, or simply just not think it is that impressive.

My friend in California sent me a picture of exactly that.

The back of this employee’s shirt says, “I can make it right.”

Does that mean they expect to screw up a lot? That was the first thought my friend had when he saw the shirt. It was the first thought I had when he shared the story. I’m sure it is the first thought on many people’s minds.

There is something to be said for admitting your flaws and taking responsibility for your mistakes, but it probably isn’t the best idea to tell people that you expect to make mistakes. A lot of them. All the time. So much so that your staff is going around proclaiming that their one skill is in being able to fix problems and make them right.

Maybe you should train them to do it right the first time?

As a customer, my expectation is that you will make it right. Period. If you don’t, I won’t be back. Telling me on your shirt that you are trained for that doesn’t necessarily instill any new confidence in me because it makes me immediately think you’re prone to making mistakes you need to fix a lot. This shirt gives off the wrong vibe.

That’s not very impressive.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS There is nothing wrong with being clever. Just be sure you have someone you trust look at it before you roll it out. Not your staff, though. They see the inside joke you see. Have an outsider tell you their first impression, then decide if you’re okay with that impression before you go live. Cleverness can be good when done right, but can also backfire when people don’t get the joke.

The Best Way to Learn the Lesson

David M. Bailey, one of my favorite inspirational artists, wrote a song called The Hard Way with powerful lyrics …

They say the hard way is the only way we ever learn a thing
After everything I’ve learned I’d say they’re right
Sometimes it takes a thief to steal inside your house
Before you learn to lock your doors at night

I love the song, but will respectfully disagree with his premise that the hard way is the only way. I will grant him that the lessons do seem to stick better the hard way.

Like I said yesterday, we learn best from our failures. But even then, not everyone learns from their mistakes. Not everyone learns from their trials. Not everyone learns from their accomplishments, either. The reason we don’t learn is that most of us don’t have a process in place for turning a mistake, trial, or accomplishment into a lesson.

When I lead team building activities, I build in time for what is called “processing”—drawing out the lesson from each activity. I was taught a powerful tool decades ago for doing this, a tool I use time and time again to help me (and others) learn the lessons. The tool is three short, simple questions.

  • What?
  • So what?
  • Now what?
This guy is actually one of the smartest guys I know. His First Order of Business is one of the greatest business tools I have ever seen!

What? asks us to process exactly what happened during an activity, the concrete actions, the recap, the successes and failures, mistakes and triumphs of the activity. What happened? What went well? What didn’t? What was the outcome?

So what? is the abstract to the concrete, questions to draw out the lessons from what we did. So what did we learn from what we did? So what made the difference? So what would have made things different?

Now what? is the application of the abstract, the application of the lessons to future activities. Now what are we going to do with this information? Now what will we try to do going forward? Now what will happen when you run into this scenario again?

Here is an example from the team building activity with the canoes

What?

What happened? We got on the water and found out that some people didn’t know how to canoe.
What did you do next? Knowing we couldn’t talk, I paddled my canoe over to the other canoe and tried to show them the proper way to hold a paddle and make a stroke.
Did it work? Eventually, but they still struggled.
Why did they struggle? Because with the limited communication I couldn’t teach them how to steer.
What eventually happened? They got it together through trial and error, but it took us a lot longer than expected and set us way behind schedule.

So what? 

So what was the real problem? We didn’t check to make sure people knew how to canoe when we picked this plan.
What else? Since we made assumptions that everyone could canoe, we didn’t think about training anyone for the task.
What about the communication?  It was a lot harder to communicate without words than we thought it would be, especially trying to teach a new skill.
So what would have made this better? If we had asked everyone if they knew how to canoe before they got into the boats and on the water.
What else could you have done? We could have done training on dry land while we had full use of communication and before we had to launch.
So what would have been the outcome if you did that? We would have saved time and been more skilled at completing the task.

Now what?

Now what are you going to do going forward? Make sure everyone has the right skills to complete a task before we start.
Anything else? Include a skills assessment so that we know what skills everyone has and what skills we need to add to our training program.
How will that help you? We’ll know our strengths better and be able to plan activities that utilize the skills the team already has.
How will you apply the lesson of communication? Make sure that when we need to train, we do it when we have the time and full resources to do it properly rather than on the job when we are limited.

The hard way is a powerful teacher, but the best way to get lessons to stick no matter how hard or easy is through a solid process.

What? So what? Now what? is as solid of a process there is.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS You may have noticed that all my blogs have a postscript or two. Go back and read a few and you will find they are most often the Now what? to the lesson of the post. Now what are you going to do? Practice using this technique when training your new employees, when dealing with an employee who screws up, and when recapping your staff trainings and meetings. You’ll find the lessons stick much better.

PPS The order of the questions is important. If you don’t first establish what happened (What?), you cannot pull out the lessons (So what?). If you don’t fully understand the lessons then you cannot apply them to future activities (Now what?). If your group is struggling with either the second or third step of this process, go back and reestablish the previous step.

PPPS This works with parenting as well.

Learning From the Mistakes of Others

As I was putting my resume together, I was thinking back on some of the Team Building activities I have created over the years. My favorite one was the Drainage Ditch Determination. That was 26 years ago. I wish I still had the original notes. I know we didn’t call it by that name but I cannot remember exactly what we called it. I do remember the activity and the lessons. I can take you back there in a heartbeat.

(Thump-thump)

That’s me holding the ropes on a rock climbing trip back in 1991

After a day of basic team building activities, the group was given a new challenge. A handful of canoes needed to be transported at dusk from one location to another. The only map available showed a lake and a drainage ditch that led from their current location to the destination (approx 2 miles). The map also showed hiking trails leading to the destination (approx 2 miles) but had the disclaimer that although the trails were well-defined, they were unmarked (and crisscrossed the region.)

The group was then split into four subsets.

  • Leadership. They got the final decision on what the group did.
  • Logistics and Planning. They were responsible for determining the options, presenting them to the Leadership group, and making sure everyone had what they needed to complete the task.
  • Communication. One of the rules of the activity is that there was no verbal communication on open water. This group had to plan out all communication and how it would be implemented including internally and externally.
  • Safety. They had veto power over all the other groups if ever they felt an activity was unsafe. They also had to set the parameters for safety such as wearing life jackets in the canoes, etc.

The challenge itself was fairly straightforward. The most obvious choice based on the information given was to paddle the canoes as far as possible and carry them the 40-50 yards necessary to the final destination. What the map didn’t make clear was the difficulties traversing the drainage ditch because it didn’t show the barbed wire fence or culvert obstacles to be overcome. What made it even more interesting is that the activity began at dusk. By the time the group reached the drainage ditch, it was fairly dark and only one flashlight was permitted.

You can probably see where this activity went. The first issue usually arose on the lake when members of the group realized some of them didn’t know how to paddle a canoe (and they had no verbal communication for giving on-the-spot instruction.) We had eye-opening conversations about the importance of making sure everyone has the basic skills necessary to complete a task and whether that was a leadership problem or a logistics problem.

Once in the drainage ditch, issues of safety, logistics, and decision making all came into play. On top of that, there was the issue of perseverance.

One group I facilitated got within ten feet of a split rail fence. Their destination was just on the other side of that fence, but because of major breakdowns in communication, concerns for safety (emotional and physical), and low morale, Leadership threw in the towel. We had a powerful talk about what to do when morale falters, and the importance of emotional safety. (Note: it was the right decision for them to quit when they did. In Team Building, completing the task is always secondary to safety and never necessary to learn the lessons.)

Even the groups that successfully completed the task had breakdowns along the way. It was in the failures that the best learning occurred.

We had discussions about how the division of powers, while fine on paper, tended to be fallacy in practice. Everyone had to be on board for safety. Everyone had to be on board with the logistics and plans. Everyone had to be on board with the communication. Leadership simply had to make sure everyone was on board. If someone didn’t understand or didn’t want to go along with the group, completing the activity was in jeopardy.

We had discussions about the importance of Leadership listening as much as leading. When Leadership didn’t listen to Safety or Logistics, that group was doomed to failure.

We had discussions about the importance of being able to stay calm and solve problems when unforeseen obstacles got in their way. Climbing out of a canoe in a drainage ditch to avoid a barbed wire fence in the dark was a challenge most people had never faced. One group mapped out a new policy for unforeseen obstacles for the next time they faced one on their real job (they were a group of Resident Advisors for a college dormitory.)

Back in 1991 my boss and I facilitated several groups through this activity that ranged from high school groups to the corporate leaders at Domino’s Pizza (including Tom Monaghan himself). I doubt the insurance companies would allow such activities any more.

Good thing you and I can still learn the lessons from the groups lucky enough to slog through that ditch.

“Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.” -Eleanor Roosevelt/Groucho Marx/Sam Levinson (depending which quote site you prefer)

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS One thing I have always found head-scratching in business is the knee-jerk reaction to immediately fire someone who screws up. Screw-ups happen. Wouldn’t it be better to keep the person who has already learned the lesson the hard way rather than hire a new person who hasn’t yet learned that same lesson? Just some food for thought.

PPS You might recognize the subset groups better by their corporate names

  • Leadership = Management
  • Logistics and Planning = Sales and HR
  • Communication = Marketing
  • Safety = Legal

Go back and plug those words into the post and see how those lessons become even more apparent.

Where I Can Help You

I gave you my resume. Now let’s talk about you and what you might need.

If you are a Small Business Owner …

You wear many hats, some better than others. Your choices are simple.

A) Learn all the skills you need on your own.
B) Hire someone else to do the things you can’t (or don’t want to) do.
C) Hire someone to teach you those skills you might be lacking.

Image result for wearing many hatsYou might need help with your Hiring and Training. I will help you identify the positions you need on your team, help you identify the traits and skills needed to do those jobs, write up a job description, write up a killer help-wanted ad to attract the right kind of applicants, and give you the interview questions that help you identify the perfect candidates. I will help you create a new-hire training program and teach you how to stage your own training workshops on a continual basis.

You might need help with your Customer Service. I will lead you and your team through all the touch-points a customer has with your business, identifying where you are meeting their expectations and where you are missing the mark. You’ll learn simple tips and techniques that raise the bar across the board. Your staff will help develop the next level of service you offer with complete buy-in.

You might need help with your Marketing & Advertising. I will help you identify your core values and beliefs. I will help you identify and create content that attracts the right type of customers. I will help you identify the best use of your advertising budget and resources to get the most bang for the buck. I will evaluate your website, your social media presence, and your other marketing attempts to help you maximize your efforts.

If you are a Large Corporation …

You likely already have a specialist in each of the above areas. If you don’t, you might want to give me consideration. If you have someone internally you are grooming for those roles, you might need someone to come in and do one-on-one training for certain skills.

You also might need help with your general Training Programs. I can run your Team Building workshops for all levels of your corporate structure, fostering better communication, cooperation, and trust amongst your teams. I can help you roll out new initiatives through presentations and workshops that get your team to buy-in quickly and efficiently.

You might need help with Management Training. I can work with your managers teaching them better ways to identify, hire and train their teams. I can help them learn better ways to motivate and inspire their teams to greatness. I can give them tools for training and evaluating the individuals on their team to help them maximize production within their payroll budget.

If you are a Community Economic Developer …

You have read the reports that show how a strong, locally-owned businesses climate is better for the overall health of your economy.

You might need help to strengthen the presence of your local retail market by teaching retailers the foundational skills necessary to compete in today’s retail climate. The Retail Success Academy covers everything from Customer Service to Retail Math, designed specifically for mom & pop indie retailers and restaurants.

You might instead need someone to lead workshops and presentations for small businesses on individual topics such as Generating Word of Mouth Advertising or Marketing on a Shoestring Budget that gives them the competitive edge and helps keep your local economy strong.

If you are a Conference Planner …

You need to hit homeruns with your speakers and presentations and workshops.

You might be looking for a keynote speaker who can put on a presentation your attendees will be talking about for years, one filled with equal parts inspiration and realistic action steps that lead your attendees exactly where they want to go. I’ve been on the stage and in the audience. I know exactly what your attendees want.

You might be looking for an emcee to make sure all of your events and activities run smoothly and on time with a professionalism not always present among your volunteers. I know how to handle a microphone and handle a crowd.

You might be looking for a workshop leader, someone who can dig deeper into a topic to give your attendees a more comprehensive understanding of Marketing & Advertising, Hiring & Customer Service, or even Retail Math, I can take them to a level of understanding equivalent to an upper level college course.

If you are a College Professor or Dean …

You might be looking for a guest speaker to offer your students a fresh perspective from someone in the field.

You might be looking for someone to offer a relevant lesson or two not found in your current curriculum.

You might be looking for someone to teach an elective that is not currently available for your students.

I have ideas for all three of those.

You have problems you need solved. I have solutions. Let’s get together.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Conventional Wisdom says I need to pick a niche and then be the best option in that niche. The problem is there are a lot of niches out there where I could fit. I just haven’t figured out which one you want me in the most. Then again, I’ve also never been one to just do what conventional wisdom says (which is why my seminars and workshops are so highly rated.)

I’m Looking For Work

Since closing up Toy House last December I have been writing, speaking, coaching, sailing, selling, and singing for my supper. It has been an interesting adjustment from the steady paycheck of selling toys. It has been filled with highs and lows and stimulating conversations when people ask me how I’m enjoying “retirement.” I’m a few decades away from that word. I need to work.

The past few days I have thrown my hat into the ring for some full-time job openings in southern Michigan.

Yes, I am looking for work. 

This is me. Always smiling. Always ready to help.

Here is my resume: (Please excuse my bragging—that’s what resumes are for, right?)

27 years as a Team Builder: Developed, Organized and Led Team Building Activities utilizing Low and High Ropes Courses, Wilderness & Experiential Activities, and designated tasks to promote better communication, cooperation and trust for groups ranging from adolescents to corporate America. Led and Facilitated Training Programs to teach others to be Team Builders. Wrote and published blogs and articles on Team Building.

24 years as a Purchasing Agent: Created and Managed Open-to-Buy programs for multi-million dollar retail store. Negotiated Terms with Vendors. Made Purchasing Decisions for millions of dollars of inventory. Designed Merchandising Displays including Revamping 16,000 square feet of display space. Led Workshops, Seminars and Webinars on Inventory Management, Pricing, and Financials,

22 years as a Marketing & Advertising Director: Developed and Managed Advertising Budgets between $20,000 and $120,000 annually. Made Advertising Purchases and Created Content for TV, Radio, Newsprint, Billboard, Direct Mail, Email, Facebook, In-Store Signage, Business Flyers, and Press Releases. Conceived, Organized and Hosted several public and private Marketing Events. Made Public Appearances at Networking Events, on Radio, and TV. Built websites for www.ToyHouseOnline.com and www.PhilsForum.com (among others). Led Workshops, Seminars and Webinars on Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations. Wrote book on Advertising called Most Ads Suck (But Yours Won’t).

21 years as an HR Director: Hired, Trained, Scheduled and Managed a team of 12 to 30 employees. Created an Employment Manual and Training Program. Planned, Organized and Led monthly Staff Trainings and Meetings. Led Workshops, Seminars and Webinars on Hiring & Training and Customer Service. Wrote and Published a Book on Hiring and Training called Hiring and the Potter’s Wheel: Turning Your Staff Into a Work of Art. 

27 years as a Speaker/Teacher: I have given over 100 seminars to other businesses, led over 100 training workshops for staff development, facilitated over 100 team building events, conducted over 100 presentations on shopping to customers, and taught over 100 classes for new, expectant fathers at our local hospital.

9 years as a Writer: I have written four books, dozens of magazine articles, hundreds of different advertising content, and 788 blog posts (counting this one.)

I am looking for work.

You can hire me to do Private Coaching, one-on-one, in the area you need the most help. (For a lot of people that has been hiring and training.)

You can hire me to do Presentations and Workshops. My Customer Service presentation takes a unique approach by helping you define each point of contact a customer has with your business and measures your performance at every step along the way. Like my Hiring & Training presentation, this works with any type or size of business. In fact, it was a manufacturer who paid me the highest compliment telling me I had given him the “million-dollar idea” he needed to take his business to the next level (as he flew away on his private jet.)

You can hire me to help you revamp your Marketing & Advertising. Whether temporary as a coach/consultant and/or to help you create new content, or full-time as a Manager or Director, I will bring insights and skills that will move the needle for your business.

You can hire me to Write. My specialty in writing is to teach and persuade. I’m sure you can figure out how to use that in your business.

I’m not a perfect candidate. Most people look at my resume and get hung up on the fact I have Bachelor of Science in Geological Oceanography from the University of Michigan. That was 28 years ago. I barely remember that child (but I still know more about shoreline erosion than anyone really needs to know.)

Or they want to discount the above experiences because I didn’t do it in corporate America. I can see that. Of course, I did all those jobs simultaneously (plus twelve years as CEO and CFO) for a store that in 2009 was named “One of the 25 best independent stores in America!” in the book Retail Superstars by George Whalin. That’s not corporate America, but it does speak to my ability to learn and my ability to stay organized and focused while juggling a lot of responsibilities in a fast-paced environment.

I’d be happy to discuss these and any other reservations during the interview.

I am looking for work. Do you know anyone who can use a guy like me?

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS I apologize if this post sounds too much like bragging. I really do need more work. I want you to know I’m not just a blogger who thinks he knows something about business. I have walked the walk. I have made many mistakes and learned from them. I don’t have the business degree, but I did have the toughest teacher ever—real life! You get the exam first and then you get the lesson. Please share this post with anyone you know who could use a guy like me.

PPS You know my Core Values are Having Fun, Helping Others, Education and Nostalgia. My ideal job is teaching and helping others. It is what I do best and I enjoy it thoroughly. My second passion is marketing & advertising, finding new ways to drive traffic. That and Free Cell are my two favorite puzzles to solve. If the right opportunity comes along, however, I’m game for just about anything that lines up with my values.

What Are You Winning?

I admit it. I fall for click-bait headlines all the time. I saw one recently about the Columbus, OH based discount closeout chain Big Lots! that said, “Discounter Opens ‘Store of the Future’ “. Yeah, I had to see this.

The article went on to say how they had changed their signage and rearranged the furniture. They even added a huge Hello! sign by the front door and a huge Thank You! sign on the way out. My first thought was, “The 1990’s called. They want their store design back.”

Image result for big lots! hello signFortunately there was a link to a full article on their changes. Turns out the cosmetic changes are more because of the structural changes going on. Big Lots! is getting away from being a pure closeout store with different treasures all the time. They are focusing more on the categories where they perform the best.

As their CEO David Campisi said, “You can’t be all things to everyone. You have to take a position you can own and win.”

While his store design might not be all that futuristic, he is ahead of many of his peers with that last statement. (Toys R Us, I’m looking at you.)

Here is what I want you to think about today.

  • What position can you own in your industry?
  • Do you own it today?
  • Are you winning?

If you can answer the first question, you have a strategic plan. If you answered yes to the next two questions, you’re well on your way.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS If you would really like to see what a store of the future might look like, check out b8ta. I believe we will see more stores like this in the coming years.

PPS If you answered No to either of the last two questions, then ask yourself one last question. What will it take to get to Yes? Add that to your strategic plan.