Change is Bad?

Clearly I work in an industry that change is constant. Solutions change, product changes even expectations are constantly changing. I love this change. I can't imagine working in an industry that you do the same thing day after day. I would be changing jobs frequently!

I came to the realization that sometimes keeping things the same is good. An example of this is the barber shot that I go to. That's right, barber shop. Not a salon, beauty shop or trendy hair place, just a simple barber shop. These seem to be a dying breed. They have the rotating pole thing. Which I looked up "The origin of the barber pole is associated with the service of bloodletting.[1] During medieval times, barbers also performed surgery on customers as well as tooth extractions. The original pole had a brass basin at the top (representing the vessel in which leeches were kept) and bottom (representing the basin which received the blood). The pole itself represents the staff that the patient gripped during the procedure to encourage blood flow." Who knew

Anyway, I have been going to this shop for over 10 years. Only recently did they have "Major" change. The TV went bad so they purchased a new one and the wallpaper changed a couple years ago. Other than that, nothing has changed. The same 3 barbers work there, the same clippers and the same broom.

It is definitely comforting to go to the same place and know what you are going to get and what you are going to spend. Maybe in sales we can take a bit of learning out of this. Sure, we may change the solution, but keeping the interaction comfortable and predictable will keep people happy and comfortable doing business with you. Keeping change down in the interaction may be a good thing?

I can't leave out Joddey Hicks

Joddey is another sales guy with lots experience in the industry. He has been doing this blog thing for quite some time, he just didn't want to share. Well it is out now so no more hiding. Best advice I can give you is make sure you don't mention what the boss does. He will read it!

I look forward every day to Joddey's content.

Welcome Fran&FrankINski

Welcome Mike Fafinski to the world of blogging. I appreciate your thoughts and look forward to reading what you have to say about the world around you. Maybe you will even explain the Fran&FrankINski thing.

I stand corrected

From Ron Bunch

Costco & Sam’s Club both started 1983.
Sam Walton SWIPEd his idea from Price Club which merged in the 1990’s with CostCo.
http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Sams-Club-Company-History.html

Sam’s has more stores, but CostCo has higher sales, due to the higher end ticket items CostCo sells.

Just wanted to let you people in Tennessee without CostCo’s read your blog.

Are you half full or half empty?

A positive attitude is in my opinion 3/4 of a winner. Watching the Olympics there are athletes that do some amazing events that show off strength, balance, power and pure art. Watching the gymnastics yesterday, it was interesting that you could tell when an athlete dig good just by how they acted on the dismount. More interesting was when one performance was not going perfect but on the dismount the athlete acted like it was great, his score was probably better than it should have been.

During an interview with this athlete he was ask why he celebrated at the end of the event, he stated that this was one shot in front of the entire world. He was put tens of thousands of hours into this performance and was going to put his best everything into it.

He did not win the gold in this event, however within the hour he went and performed the next event winning gold.

Do you let things get you down? Are you ready to win gold on the next event?

Feeling Green after Saturday?

I know what you are thinking, I feel fine. Rather, Aaron Booker showed me what impact logging had on the West Coast and it really hit home. Large (Hundreds of thousands of acres) area's are damaged. In fact it is unique to show areas that are not effected by logging. Scars in the land where trees no longer exist. Areas where only new trees exist where there were once 200 foot plus trees. It is hard to think that these areas will ever be the same. It is also hard to think that this can't have an impact on the environment.

It makes me more aware of the purchases I make everyday. From green PC's to recycling. It is important as sales people that we remind our clients the importance of green in their purchases. While this may be a small step, it is the power that we all have every day to make a difference.

SWIPE is alive and well!

SWIPE (Steal With Integrity and Pride Everywhere) is practiced in every industry. A great example is Sams Club. According to Aaron Booker, Costco was the first between the two. I am taking his word for it. We do not have Costco in Kansas that I am aware of.

When Aaron took me to Costco it was like walking into a Sam's. Racks were the same, same card to get in, even similar products. Just proving that even the largest companies take ideas from the competition.

Taking other ideas, morphing them into something different that is your own is one of the fastest ways to take a new solution to market. Don't think you have to come up with something completely. A small change can be the unique difference.