This very interesting and provocative thought is from Jeff Flowers at affinitydoctor.blogspot.com

Advertising is everywhere.The average American is exposed to more than 3,000 ad messages each day. In fact, we see more ads in one year than a person living 50 years ago would see in an entire lifetime. Everyone is vying for our attention these days. Have you seen the ads in the bottom of golf holes? TV ads at the gas pump? Ads in bathroom stalls?

How can a consumer expect to sift through this clutter to determine what products and services he should buy? Who can he trust to give him unbiased input?

Today’s consumers are relying on advice from trusted sources for recommendations and referrals. This is the power of affinity marketing.

How do you know that the offer for cell phone service that is being extended to you by your employer is the best deal out there? If you are like most consumers, you think “it must be a good, legitimate deal or my company would not be offering it to me as a benefit”.

The same influence can be found within trade associations, professional groups, unions and other organizations. As a marketer, the challenge is to “influence the influencer.”

Almost every consumer belongs to at least one affinity group. Whether it is the company he works for, his church, his bowling team or his professional association, he belongs to some kind of organization. And that organization has some level of influence over his purchases.

The key to affinity group marketing is to position your offering as a group benefit.

Benefits can be as simple as offering a member discount. Everyone likes to save money and everyone understands discounts.

Another type of offer is a “value-added” benefit. This type of offer is limited only by the marketer’s creativity. Value-added offers include “gift with purchase”, “exclusive sales”, upgrades and other perks. Consumers like to feel special and any offer that gets them past “the velvet rope” will be received well.

The important thing to remember is that you must offer legitimate value that the member can understand and appreciate.

Find out what groups your customers and prospects belong to and integrate your products and services into their member benefit programs. And then, take care of the members…and they will take care of you.

My friend, John Hogan, a fellow Hospitality Advisor sent me these new notes. Super reading, simple, effective and with a lasting memory. You can read more from John’s wonderful world of wisdom at http://www.hospitalitynet.org 

Many hotels have much to be proud of – service to their guests, contributions to their community and a solid reputation in their local industry.

Building Pride is not so much of a program, but a commitment to excel in what is done at their hotel. The following are examples from my professional experience:

1. Last fall at the Jacksonville, FL Hyatt Regency, I observed the General Manager, Food and Beverage Director and Chef touring the restaurant after breakfast and before lunch. Their “tour” was actually a very positive inspection of both the obvious and the somewhat hidden physical features of the outlet. I say positive, because I did not hear them level criticism of areas that could use improvement or refurbishing. Instead, I heard their animated discussion on how to make the area both more enjoyable for guests and accessible for staff. When I spoke with the GM later, he said this kind of interaction is a regular part of improving every part of the hotel.

2. At the same Hyatt Regency hotel, I had an unusual departure experience. The doorman called for a cab, helped with my luggage and then extended a handshake with the comment “thank you for staying at MY hotel.” I recognize that in some cultures, this might be a sensitive approach, but I was truly impressed by his sincerity in thanking me for my patronage.
   
   
3. At the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel and Bungalow on the Big Island of Hawaii, it is easy to see why the hotel has been recognized by Travel & Leisure, Andrew Harper, CONDÉ NAST TRAVELER, National Geographic, Meetings Magazine and others. The hotel is renowned for its devotion to preserving and enhancing the cultural history of Hawaii and recognized for its successful honu (green sea turtle) program, cultural activities, indigenous plant life and historic fishponds. What I recall from a mystery shopping assignment I had a number of years ago is reinforced in the TRIPADVISOR.com recognition ratings from real travelers. I recall the wonderful welcome experience as you are invited to sit, are greeted with tropical juice, a flower lei, cold washcloths and then leisurely escorted to your accommodation. Reading some of the more than 300 comments, one can sense the pride and coordination of service. 

4. At the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Fayetteville, Arkansas, I appreciated the hand-written welcome note from the hotel director of sales that accompanied the fresh fruit. The card was just the right introduction for who I could contact to receive a small service I needed in preparation for my program the next day. The Fayetteville Visitors Bureau had engaged me to interact with their membership on ways to continue to improve service and revenues. 

5. Last fall I had the privilege of conducting a series of programs for Choice Hotel on the topic of enhancing the guest experience. I‘d like to compliment the many CHOICE branded General Managers who shared their personal stories of delivering hospitality. Many managers of Comfort Inns, Quality Inns, Sleep Inns and Clarions regularly interact with their guests at breakfast by serving coffee, meeting, greeting, and generally making their guests feel appreciated. I believe this single act of hosting goes a long way in making their guests feel genuinely welcomed.

“Excellence is best described as doing the right things right – selecting the most important things to be done and then accomplishing them 100% correctly.” Secrets of Effective Leadership

This is another precious Seth Godin Blog (with his permission of course).

Allan points out that Warren Buffet and Benjamin Graham invested in Circles of Competence The idea is to buy what you know.

Too often, organizations confuse this with circles of convenience. They stick to the tactics, products, people and channels that they are comfortable with, instead of rethinking what the market demands.

When Amazon offered the New York Times millions of dollars in affiliate revenue a decade ago, the paper turned them down because they feared losing Barnes and Noble as an advertiser. This is a convenient decision, but clearly not a smart one.

When companies look to hire new talent, they often go where they’ve gone before, because it’s convenient. When newly minted MBAs go job hunting, they often go to the placement office because it’s convenient as well.

Convenience is hugely attractive in organizations because it is easy to defend and easy to approve. You don’t need to call a meeting to try something new, because the convenient option has already been approved. The problem is that convenient approaches rarely break through or generate extraordinary returns.

Our employment world is changing and fast too.

New conditions create new dynamics, conditions and terms. ‘Location Independent’ is one such term. It does what it says on the label.

My thanks to fellow Triiibe Member Michael Ivey for sending me this whole new world.

Log on to locationindependent.com/blog to read more.

The All Seeing eye had a hit record with the above title. My friend on the Triiibes website is no stranger to Rock n’ Roll and a musical world. More than that, he writes great Blogs and provocative posts.

This is a recent favourite and you can read much more for yourself on www.surfforms.co.uk

The lions in the Ngoragora Crater are endangered because of in-breeding and a shortage of food. Yet not too far away, outside of the crater, there are wide plains with plenty of food where they could survive. So why don’t the lions leave the crater? Is it lack of imagination, fear, indifference, stupidity, preferring what is known or a dislike of change? Not being able to talk to animals zoologists can only make well-informed guesses.

However humans behave in the same way, organisations are reluctant to change, and if some indefatigable person makes the effort an army of nay sayers appears from nowhere. Anyone who has doubted creativity in the work place will soon find that the reasons not to change come thick and fast :

• We tried it before and it didn’t work.
• It will have to wait until the next year’s figures are completed.
• In this organisation we do it like this, I thought you knew that.
• My niece’s boyfriend is a management consultant and he says it is a stupid idea.
• If it worked we would we would have implemented it years ago.
• Who are you to join this firm and after just two years try to start changing everything?
• Better the devil you know is what I always say.

The problem is that usually everything changes yet everything stays the same. So if change is the price that has to be paid to leave the crater, for most people the price is usually too high, even if long term survival depends on it.

I’m lucky enough to be part of several online communities.

I have always believed that wisdom is for sharing.

I’m lucky too to have been invited to join some global online communities for this very purpose.

In particular, I have the privilege of being a member of Seth Godin’s invite only website – Triiibes

I’m also lucky enough to read several inspiring and illuminating Blogs.

It’s time to share the best of the best.

Recently, I have asked my online colleagues for their contributions

They follow for the next 3 weeks.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

I hope you too will appreciate their wisdom and the value of sharing.

I claim nothing for their inclusion but thank them for their wisdom.

You should too and maybe join us by writing your Blog to anne@conorkenny.com and we can highlight you too.

Go on, be brave, it’s fun!

This first guest Blog is written by Jule Kucera a workplace learning and performance professional. Her wonderful wisdom was sent to me by Didier Daglinckx a fellow Triiibes member.

It’s all about change.

Drip: Break down an element of behaviour that will be necessary to make the change into the smallest repeatable part. Then do just that tiny little thing every day. For example, losing weight requires eating less and moving more. So, taking the moving more part of the equation, find some small, minute behavior change that you can do every day. Buying sneakers will get you started but it is generally not something you would do daily as part of the behavior change. However, putting on those sneakers is something you would do daily. So as part of your grand plan to lose weight you decide that the smallest unit you can do daily is to put your sneakers on. That’s all. Just do that every day. The reason this works is that it isn’t a big enough change from what you are already doing to provoke resistance. “Heck, I’m only putting my sneakers on.” And then once they’re on you may decide to do a little more. But do not do too much, as this will provoke resistance. Just be consistent at putting your sneakers on every day. After a few weeks of that you can up the ante—maybe you’ll take 2 marching steps. Whatever it is, do it every day.

Trickle: Do the physical drip activity and combine it with a corresponding mental activity. For example, “I enjoy moving my body—it feels good to work out.” Run this through your mind over and over every day. What you want to do is change your old mental ruts to new, more useful ruts (ruts are good as long as they take you where you want to go). Your brain is like modeling clay and you are remodeling it. Read The Mind & The Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force if you want to know more.

Flood: Make one big decision that necessitates many, many subsequent actions. For example, hire a personal trainer and give that trainer a key to your house and permission to roust you from your bed. Pay the trainer an amount of money that makes you feel as if you must follow through or you have wasted a serious amount of money. And to really flood, give your next month’s rent/mortgage payment to someone to hold on your behalf. If you make your weight-loss goals, that person pays your rent/mortgage. If you don’t make your goals, the money goes to charity and you have to find additional funds.

In a recession there is never a good time to take holidays.

In fact – how dare you?

If you are busy, no time, work to be done.

If you are not busy, no time, work needs to be found.

There is no ‘right’ time but there is a right reason.

One year passing by – one less left.

Go surprise yourself. Book now.

The world will wait awhile.

I promise!

Recently I was asked to give my view on how you build a business. Not necessarily the ‘right way’ but certainly ‘my way’. Here are our 10 points.

(1) It takes time not just to build a business but to evolve a business. ‘Success’ is not overnight.

(2) No matter what you have, how good, what you believe, ‘the’ most important piece of advice is to  remember ….. The Market Decides …… not me, not you, nor friends, family or even foe.

You must have something ‘they’ think is a great idea, not us.

(3) There is no point in ’standing out’ for the sake of standing out. That’s what people who run naked across a football stadium do on match day. They stand out but what for?

(4) There must be a business in your passion. The old question is;

“Is there a gap in the market and a market in the gap?”

(5) You ought to tell ‘your’ story and why you do what you do. That says ‘passion’ without using the word.

(6) Remember, a cross breed can become a pedigree but it will take time.

(7) Be patient, you can’t rush success, or force customers to react to your timetable.

(8) The most effective selling (for us) covers a few primary fundamentals;

-We write for our industry (profile and positioning).

-We give exclusive, complimentary, highly targeted, non transferable invitation only workshops occasionally.

-We don’t discount.

-We say ‘no’ every so often.

-We use LinkedIn.

-We won’t work with the ‘wrong’ type of client (wrong is our internal description of who we believe is not right for us and our business).

-We network lots and lots.

-We travel to conferences.

-We make sure we are actively learning, all the time.

-We never advertise.

-We work hard at evolving what we do.

-We work hard at our website.

-We post letters rather than email.

-We read papers, spot opportunity and go meet the whoever.

-We never give up.

-We try hard to move from “we think” to “we know”.

-We keep trying.

-We recognize that more deals won’t happen than will.

-We seek help.

-We know what we are good at, we know what we are not good at.

-We are driven by doing the best job possible, not money.

-We try never to let how we ‘feel’ transfer on to our client.

-We try hard to always stay grateful, humble and open.

-We know that a business is fragile and can sink easily. We respect that, value that and acknowledge our good fortune.

-We never arrive.

-We see everything as ‘work in progress’.

-We love what we do and do it for that reason alone.

-We believe in ourselves and know we control our own future.

-We let go where we can’t.

-We know there will be bad days but clouds pass.

-We are passionate and we show it.

-We really like our clients.

-We make sure we listen with care.

-We forget the past but learn from it.

(9) Always remember the Golden days are today – not tomorrow.

(10) Leave a legacy, not a fortune!

On holiday I read the tragic story of a woman jailed for theft. Despite her best efforts to sell her rapidly free falling house to pay off the debt the Judge said “12 months”.

Fair enough – if you like.

I don’t like – not fair enough.

The same newspaper tells of many Senior Bankers with ‘impaired loans’.

They continue to work. They presumably continue to draw a salary.

The new term ‘impaired’ seems to put a glossy permission shine on “failing to pay”.

As long as we continue to have double standards we will have corruption.

Whilst we have corruption we will never have equality.

An unequal society is a third world democracy.

It’s time there was equity – and justice.