Bob Poole's Water Cooler Hangout

Chicken Soup, Scotch, and Happiness

I was just about to write that I am sick today when I remembered being scolded by one of the nuns who taught me in grade school. Actually, I was pretty much always be scolded but that's a story for another time.

She told me that I wasn't sick but that I was ill. Little did she know! Lots of people tell me I'm sick!

Anyway, this will be brief as I'm trying to decide whether to try the chicken soup cure or the Macallan 18 cure. Actually, why take any chances. I'll try them both and that should do the trick.

Those of you who get my blog by email will need to click on the actual URL to understand what I'm about to tell you. So, click here and we will continue.

Okay. Everyone back now? To the right of your screen is a book by the title "How To Be Rich and Happy." That's quite a title and you might wonder if it could possibly live up to its billing. It does.

I could give you a list of reasons why you should by it. It is an eBook and it will cost you $47. That's what I paid for it despite the fact that (full disclosure) the authors will give me a few bucks if you buy it. But, like I said, I paid for it and I did so because I know Tim Brownson, one of the authors. And, I knew that if Tim had a hand in writing it I was going to get at least 20 times my $47 investment back by applying the knowledge I'd gain.

That's my guide for buying books, by the way. If I don't believe I will get at least a 20 times return on the cost of the book, I don't buy it. How the heck do I determine that? Well, sometimes I've read the person before like Seth Godin. Seth writes a book and I know I could pay $100 for it and get at least a $2000 return.

Tim and his co-author John Strelecky have a great guarantee. "If within twelve months after putting the formula to work in your life, you aren’t living the Rich and Happy existence you defined for yourself - let us know, and your investment will be returned in full."

So rather than the long list of why you should buy this book, I'm going to ask you to just believe me. The book and its process is that good. I'm personally using it.

And, what the heck. If it isn't, you can get all your money back and since you bought it on my word, I'll send you a free copy of my new book which will be out later next year.

Okay. Thanks for letting me tell you about "How to Be Rich and Happy." I'm off to find the chicken soup and scotch. Even sick, I'm a very happy man.

Knucklehead Employers

Yesterday, I wrote about insurance companies increasing rates by outrageous amounts to small businesses in anticipation of some kind of change in health insurance. This action is leading to employers cutting health insurance, increasing employee contributions or doing away with insurance totally.

A while back I posted a story about a real conversation I heard about using the economy as an excuse to take away employee perks. There is also a post about not falling for the temptation of cutting back on people.

If you're one of the knuckleheads ascribing to any of these tactics in order to save a buck, you're guilty of being penny wise and pound foolish. Both life and business moves in cycles and one day you might be king but the next day you're looking for loyal people to stand with you. Business also tends to move in a circle so the odds are good that what goes around comes around and if you're guilty of focusing on short-term profits, employee benefit cuts, and lack of recognition then there is a pretty good chance you're probably not too far away from getting bit in the ass - but good.

You see by taking care of people's social needs such as health care, sick benefits, child care, etc., a company is creating much more loyalty than they could with salary and pay. These social needs create a social connection and relationship between you and the employee. They create loyalty. If I have a personal relationship with you, I am more likely to stick with you during good and bad times. I'm more likely to be as productive as possible.

Losing social benefits (or not having them) means that employees think of the company only as a way to make money. If they see no loyalty from the company and management's focus is always on money, then employees will always be looking for a way to make more money. And, that quite often means they will move on to another company as soon as they can find one.

You need talented people who can help you grow. Create a relationship with your employees by using social benefits and by being there when they need you. Then watch how they will also be there for you too.

It could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship, Louie.

Insurance Companies Tell Small Business "You're Too Old and Expensive."

First it was banks ripping off small business by raising credit rates and fees in advance of laws going into effect that Congress passed against the unethical and probably criminal practices the law was to prevent happening. The big banks thumbed their noses at Congress and the President and did it anyway while the politicians continued to look the other way at billions in lobbying and donations from these same houses of finance.

Now it seems that the insurance companies have decided to follow the same plan. An article by Reed Abelson in Sunday's New York Times reports that "as Congress nears votes on legislation that would overhaul the health care system, many small businesses say they are facing the steepest rise in insurance premiums they have seen in recent years."

Ms. Reed states that small businesses are seeing their premiums rise and average of 15% for the coming year which is double the rate of last years increases. Because big companies have more negotiating clout, their increases are generally not as steep.

So, what do you think? Are these double digit, double rate increases the result of rising medical costs. Or, do you think like I do and like many medical insurance experts think?

Insurance companies are playing the same game as the banks. They see that their feeding at the trough is going to be curtailed so they are simply bowing to Wall Street pressure and and raising premiums to get ahead of any legislative changes that may curtail their profits.

Illegal - no.

Unethical - you're damn right!

So, are you going to do something about it? Google the contact information for your Representative and Senators. Call or write them and tell them that the backbone of American business is being slowly squeezed to death by Wall St. bankers and insurer and that we've had enough. 

Or,you might be hearing the news that Walter Rowen, who owns Susquehanna Glass in Columbia, PA was told by the insurance companies. Since small companies can't join a large pool for their insurance, they are at the mercy of the companies for pricing. Mr. Rowen was told his two dozen employees were getting too old and very expensive.

They demanded a 160 percent rate increase. He ended up having to get less of a plan than they had enjoyed before and pay a 44 percent increase.

You and your company could be next.

Read Ms. Abelson's entire article here.

A Business Plan With Heart

The fantastic growth of farmers' markets and Community Supported Agriculture has been instrumental in connecting people with the earth and changing the way we eat. But, I think more importantly it has allowed the consumer to develop relationships with the farmers and other people who participate in these programs.

There's that word again - relationships.

I believe the same thing needs to happen to business. Corporations have grown so huge over the years that the people who lead them have become isolated from their customers. They may be wonderful people whom we would enjoy having a relationship with but that will never happen for a number of reasons.

Not the least is that their income levels and corporate demands will always keep them segregated. They only work and play with people of the same economic status. There is no opportunity to establish relationships with their customers because they have become existential beings who have given up much in terms of freedom, time, and family in order to meet the corporate demands. The hole that forms in an individual due to the loss of these things can then only be filled by the quest for more money and power as that is too often all that is left. It is a cycle that is not sustainable by human beings nor our society.

I think small businesses and their owners are in the process right now of changing that. Change will be a very long time in coming as there will always be those who are willing to follow power and money without regard to their own soul, creativity and need for genuine human relationships. But, I get emails and comments every week from people who are creating and following a different business plan - one with a heart. And, if you take time to search out you can find people who believe that balance in their lives and their relationships is the only way to live. Small business is our future.

This type of business is here today. Their owners, managers and entrepreneurs walk among us.

If you'd like to talk to one of them or work for a company like I'm describing you only need to look. They won't be on Wall St. or Madison Ave. You'll find them working in basements, garages and small incubators. They are also coaching little league and soccer on weekends and volunteering at their community food bank.

They are the real heroes and role models of our time. And, their ready for you to join them. You won't have to pay an initiation fee or worry if you'll fit in. They are ready for you if you're ready for them.

Mutant Squirrels and Dan Pink

I grew up in the "country." (Sorry, Seth but it needed the quotation marks.) It wasn't a farm or a ranch but my home from the time I was four until I left at eighteen and it was considered out in the country. We had many acres of old woods around us which is where I spent many happy days hiking and exploring. But, in all those years, I never saw a totally black squirrel. Until today when I saw one playing around a tree near my home an hour north of Philadelphia.

I thought I was seeing things until I was able to get back home and do some research. It turns out that black squirrels are mutants. Biologists estimate that nationwide about one of every 10,000 gray squirrels is the black mutant.

I tweeted about my black squirrel today and my wife tweeted back that it may be time to move if I'm discovering mutated species. Actually, she should like the idea as she's a Fringe junkie and she even followed every Lost episode which very quickly drove me to read a good book.

My squirrel research very quickly got me to thinking about communication, sales and marketing. Let's say that in your business you have always sold to one particular demographic. For example, for many years in the retail auto business the man of the house made the purchasing decision. Sadly, it took many a sales rep to lose his (and it was almost always a male) sales commission because woman finally had enough of being ignored in the sales process and took the family business where they felt welcome and respected. (Not to mention being called the little lady. Yikes!)

The demographic and psychographic profiles of your customers and prospects are changing more rapidly than at any other time. The boomers are on their way out (although I like to think we've got a couple more decades in us). But, the fact is if you've been in business for at least ten years the odds are high that you have seen a big change in your buyer profile. It is very likely they look differently, act differently and, most importantly, have different values than your prior customer base.

How do you learn to communicate with them the way they want you to communicate? Because that's your job. They don't have to listen to your old ways of marketing and selling. You want them to say things like this:

Wow.... this email from you actually sounds like a human being wrote it, instead of a marketing department. How refreshing! I really appreciate your offer and doing that without putting me on a mailing list. That's very generous. Those two features, plus the warm human tone of your email really go a long way in today's ad-crowded world.

You've got to become more creative to communicate with people these days and achieve the kinds of things I know you want to do. One of my favorite (and creative authors) is Dan Pink. Here is a great (and short) interview he did with Lateral Action. He hits upon the fact that employees are no longer motivated by the carrot and stick which means you need to be doing something different to get them to help your company communicate differently.

I recommend you read the interview and then preorder his book, "Drive" which will be out in December. Full disclaimer if you buy it using that link, I might get a quarter or two from Amazon which I will donate to feeding the squirrels.

And, hey, let me know if you see any mutant squirrels in your neighborhood.

America's Dirty Secret

My post on Hunger elicited quite a few comments across the networks. Many who work in the education and social work see it every day. Those of us in sales and marketing don't run across it in our usual day-to-day activities. I want to share what some of the people said to me. I've omitted names and changed some locations at their request. Warning - this is a longer than usual post.

A teacher in an inner city school writes:

Just a little note about what you've written.

In our little elementary school there are about 270 children---about 60% white, 38% black, 2% "other". Ninety-percent of our children qualify for free breakfast and lunch which allows our school to offer free meals to all of our kids.

Our children worry when we have a day off during the school week or a holiday break because school is the only place they know where they get 2 decent meals each day. Most of our families are on some type of assistance, but we have a lot of "working poor" too who struggle to make ends meet.

We try to help them as much as we can, but the federal guidelines prohibit us from giving kids any food to take home--they have to eat it in the cafeteria and the leftovers have to be thrown out. There are no "seconds"  so we make sure every child takes all that is allowed and if they can't eat it, they can offer it to anyone at their table.

It's a sad situation, and it's one that is happening in too many schools in too many cities these days. Our kids have learned to look out for each other and to share when they can. Hopefully they'll keep that value as they get older and not  become adults who can turn their backs on those less fortunate and never offer to help.

Thanks for writing about a dirty secret the U.S. doesn't want to admit is happening!

A minister's wife who also works for a big box discount store sees two side of the story:

Bob, Just a note mainly cause I need to vent and your 'hungry' note just seemed to encourage me a little. I sometimes work at the register and I see people coming through all the time who are on the food stamp and WIC programs. 

Food stamp recipients often have the most expensive brands...most convenient brands.....and the fullest carts. The majority of the guys are covered with tattoos and the girls, too, sometimes. I see ladies with rings on every finger, acrylic nails and then they slide a food stamp card to pay for groceries. One girl was paying with a WIC voucher and made the statement that she was thankful for WIC. I told her my son and daughter in law (who both work) made too much money to be eligible for WIC.  She said "Oh, I don't work that is how I get it."  

Jeff, Christmas, Gift Cards, and Bald Men

It's Monday morning and I hardly know where to start today because I have so many things I want to share with you. I think I'll list a few of them and then maybe talk about them in detail later on this week.

First, I want to thank everyone for all the emails and comments the last few weeks. I respond to everyone and if you've not heard from me, I promise I'm working hard to get back to everyone. The amount of mail about my book, this blog and marketing and sales questions and comments has grown so much that I got behind. Please have patience and know I'm still reading and answering.

I am so happy about the response to Listen First - Sell Later. The book actually got to the Top Ten on Amazon in sales books for about a day. I meant to take a screen shot! It's not there now but it has been selling steadily and people have been downloading the free eBook just as steadily. And, I love the mail I've gotten after people read it. Many who are not in sales or marketing commented that they were surprised to find out the book, while having a lot of sales information in it, was actually a fun read. 

Suzanne left a wonderful comment about my Seinfeld moment video. But, she left something you need to view. Go to Friends of Jeff and read about this man's beautiful story. Thank you, Suzanne.

We're already seeing Christmas displays in stores and ads on television and the newspapers. They started as early this year as the first week of October. I'd like to put together a list of organizations that could really use our help this holiday season. I'll start to work on it and I'd like you to contribute some names and websites too. Please.

I'm not much of a shopper but I can't but notice all the gift cards that are for sale now everywhere. They are really a BAD idea and a bad deal for everyone. For example, a Visa gift card advertised as "The Ideal Gift" costs the giver ten percent for a $50 card. Yes, you pay $4.95 for the privilege of giving the card. Then the person who receives the card has to pay a monthly maintenance fee of $2.00 per month after 12 months. So, if you have a balance of say $5.00 on the card (which is pretty typical) it will cost you $2.00 a month to keep the card. In two and a half months, the card is worthless and the card company gets another 10 percent. And, the merchant that processes the card pays a fee of several percent. The list can go on.

Here is one that is even more expensive. What made me really laugh though was under Fees on the card, the company lists Balance Inquiry - Free. What a deal!

Give the person cash or a check and save yourself and them money.

Lastly today, Tim Brownson and I have started a new organization called Middle Aged Bald Men. We're working on our manifesto and the types of membership. Women will not be excluded and you might not even have to be bald. We do have the URL registered and we'll keep you posted on our progress.

Tim says I'm nuts. He might be right. Have a great Monday.

I Must Be In The Middle Of A Seinfeld Episode

Here's a customer service episode about a restaurant with rules. I thought sure there were cameras rolling.

Hungry

In 2007, more than 37 million Americans were living in poverty. That amounts to more than 12.5% of the population.

Food stamp recipients rose by 2.6 million from August 2007 until August 2008.

The United States Department of Agriculture reports that over 36 million adults and children in the US are "food insecure," which means they don't get enough to eat.

I think something is drastically wrong with our priorities when we allow 36 million of our citizens (almost the total populations of New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey combined) to struggle to find enough food to eat.

In 2007, the top ten hedge fund managers made a combined income of $16.1 billion.

In 2007, the US Defense budget was in the $1 trillion range.

In 2007, the top 1% of U.S. families accounted for 23.5% of all personal income in the U.S.

In 2009, the US will spend almost as much as the rest of the world combined on the military.

Meanwhile, the top lobbyists spend over $2 billion a year influencing our elected officials and that's not counting campaign contributions.

I hope you've never been hungry. I hope you've never looked into a child's eyes and seen the look of hunger.

And, I hope in my heart that there is a very warm place in hell for people that can do something about it and turn away.

Cool or Leadership

So, I'm sitting on the couch early this morning and catching up on Sunday's New York Times. I finished up a story by Simon Akam entitled "New York Cheer For a Friend In Harm's Way" and I found myself saying, "Cool!" Actually, I said it out loud even though I was the only human home. But, my two dogs were sitting next to me and they like it when I share my opinions of stories in the Times. Lord knows they have heard a few four letter words other than cool in reaction to some of them.

After I said it I started having some soul searching type of thoughts. "Is it cool," I wondered, "for a 60-year-old-man to be saying cool?" The truth is that it isn't a term I have used much in my lifetime. But, I find myself using it more and more in the past couple of years. Maybe it is because I'm now part of a tribe of younger people who use it quite frequently. Or, maybe the title of this blog which has cool in its name leads me to use it more.

We even have a President who uses it.

Then I wondered what other kinds of habits or words are rubbing off on me by associating with my younger friends. Awesome is one of their favorite words. I try not to use awesome despite seeing or hearing it many times a day. I'm saving it for a very special occasion.

I'm saving it for the day the politicians in this country make it illegal for lobbyists to spend any money on them. Now that would be more than awesome. I'd definitely call that a extraordinary awesome day. I might even call it a Fucking Extraordinary Awesome Day!

I don't expect I'll get to use that one soon.

But, back to cool. Is our president still cool? Or, is the lack of progress on all the ideas that made him very cool to so many of us now beginning to leave us cold. He talked a lot about not allowing special interests (lobbyists) to influence his administration. And, yet, that is exactly what has happened in the areas of financial market reform and health care. These are two areas that the majority of Americans want to see changed and yet nothing cool or awesome has happened.

Maybe he's trying to hard to be cool instead of being a leader. Personally, if I had a choice of being thought of as being cool or a leader - I'd chose leadership. I hope our president makes that choice and very quickly.

And, that would be both awesome and very cool.